{"id":153,"date":"2026-05-25T05:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=153"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:37:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:37:57","slug":"australian-spy-boss-says-he-shifted-resources-from-counterterrorism-before-hanukkah-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=153","title":{"rendered":"Australian spy boss says he shifted resources from counterterrorism before Hanukkah attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) \u2014 An Australian spy agency boss told an <span>inquiry<\/span> on Monday he had pivoted resources away from counterterrorism to espionage and foreign interference investigations a few years before two gunmen <span>massacred 15 people<\/span> at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=151\">Young men storm a Congo hospital treating Ebola patients to demand bodies of their kin<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation\u2019s main domestic spy agency known as ASIO, was testifying at a wide-ranging <span>government inquiry<\/span> into the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the attack at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14.<\/p>\n<p>ASIO reduced Australia\u2019s National Terrorism Threat Level from \u201cprobable\u201d to \u201cpossible\u201d \u2014 the second-safest level on a five-tier scale &#8212; in November 2022, after the Islamic State group in the Middle East had been defeated and was no longer recruiting fighters.<\/p>\n<p>ASIO then shifted to increase its focus on foreign interference and espionage investigations, but did leave the organization\u2019s \u201ccounterterrorism mission\u201d with not enough resources, Burgess said.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cBecause terrorism has the potential to cause people to lose their lives or get harmed, it always remained a priority for us. There was just less activity that we were investigating because the nature of the environment had changed and the number of tasks we were looking at had reduced,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the same time, every rock we lifted up we found espionage or foreign interference that needed to be inquired and investigated and so resources were moved over there,\u201d Burgess added.<\/p>\n<h2>Spy boss had sounded alarm after the Hamas Oct. 7 attack <\/h2>\n<p>Five days after the <span>Hamas-led attack<\/span> on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Burgess said he took an unprecedented step for an ASIO boss by making a public statement warning that inflamed language could lead to violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore the Israeli government responded to that horrific attack, we saw the strong emotions appear in this country where we had people celebrating the Hamas terrorist attack,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n<p>ASIO saw threatening and intimidating behavior directed at Jewish Australians through the end of 2023, particularly in the eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, Burgess said. That behavior escalated to target Jewish businesses and places of worship in October 2024, he said.<\/p>\n<p>ASIO elevated Australia\u2019s terrorism threat level again to \u201cprobable\u201d in August 2024.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<!-- AP \"Read More\" embed (place mid-article) --><\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Hanukkah event was given the lowest security priority <\/h2>\n<p>Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, the highest form of inquiry in Australia, <span>must report<\/span> to the government before the first anniversary of what was the nation\u2019s worst mass shooting since 1996.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=149\">Turkish police storm offices of the main opposition CHP party, firing tear gas and rubber bullets<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The father and son gunmen, Sajid and <span>Naveed Akram<\/span>, were inspired by IS and brought handmade IS flags to Bondi, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n<p>Both were wounded in a gunfight with police, the father fatally, less than eight minutes after the shooting began. The son has been charged with committing a terrorist act, 15 counts of murder and 40 counts of attempted murder. He has entered no pleas.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Richard Lancaster, who leads a team of lawyers in his role as the Senior Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission, said only four police officers were at the event when the gunmen opened fire on a crowd of around 1,000 people.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Within 29 seconds of the start of the shooting, 10 people had been fatally shot and an 11th had been wounded, Lancaster said.<\/p>\n<p>Within five minutes, 11 police officers were at the scene. Three of those officers were wounded, he said.<\/p>\n<p>A Jewish security organization, the Community Security Group, had requested the New South Wales Police Force post officers at the beachfront park for the duration of the Hanukkah event, Lancaster said. Instead, officers were instructed to attend from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>Police gave the Hanukkah celebration the lowest security priority on a three-tier scale, with police resources managed by a local commander, Lancaster said.<\/p>\n<p>Jewish High Holy Days in September and October were top-tier events in which police resources were managed by the specialized Police Force Major Events Group in liaison with the paramilitary Police Force Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no evidence that any intelligence agency or law enforcement agency had any actual knowledge or specific information to suggest there might be an armed attack on the Hanukkah celebration,\u201d Lancaster said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=147\">Muslims begin the annual Hajj in sweltering heat against a backdrop of war concerns<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that sense, it was a surprise attack,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Australian spy agency boss has told an inquiry he had pivoted resources away from counterterrorism to espionage and foreign a few years before two gunmen massacred 15 people at Sydney Hanukkah celebration. Mike Burgess is director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. He testified Monday at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the Dec. 14 attack. The agency reduced Australia\u2019s National Terrorism Threat Level in 2022. Burgess said the agency then shifted o increase its focus on foreign interference and espionage investigations, leaving its \u201ccounterterrorism mission\u201d with not enough resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Australian spy boss says he shifted resources from counterterrorism before Hanukkah attack - Top Moving Pros<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/topmovingpross.com\/?p=153\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian spy boss says he shifted resources from counterterrorism before Hanukkah attack - Top Moving Pros\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Australian spy agency boss has told an inquiry he had pivoted resources away from counterterrorism to espionage and foreign a few years before two gunmen massacred 15 people at Sydney Hanukkah celebration. Mike Burgess is director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. He testified Monday at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the Dec. 14 attack. The agency reduced Australia\u2019s National Terrorism Threat Level in 2022. 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