What a Good Idea!

"In his new job, Faulkner will find his stated commitment to freedom of information and transparent government tested, especially with regard to security and intelligence.

He could make a bold and long-overdue contribution to openness in the public interest by - with the Prime Minister and Attorney-General Robert McClelland - releasing crucial materials on Soviet penetration of our intelligence system during the Cold War.

He should start with the Mitrokhin archive. Voluminous KGB files were smuggled West in 1992 and published in two hefty volumes, totalling 1700 pages, by Allen Lane Penguin in 1999 and 2005. They deal with KGB operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, as well as those behind the Iron Curtain. But there is a notable omission in these books: material dealing with KGB operations in Australia. Such material exists. It was sent by the British intelligence authorities to Canberra in September 1992 but has been suppressed.

That should never have happened and should be remedied. What reason can there be for suppressing the entire file on Australia when so much was published about the rest of the world? Were the materials on Australia so bland and uninformative that they were deemed of no interest and consigned to the wastepaper bin? That would have been an absurd reason for suppressing them, but it plainly was not the case. Something quite substantial and unsettling is in the Australia file. That something must see the light of day."  John Monk

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The Mitrokhin Archive...  The British government allowed some part of this fascinating collection of documents from the KGB's files to be published as "The Sword and the Shield."  The question in my mind has always been - why?  More importantly, what is in that portion of the Mitrokhin papers that the Brits did not allow to be published?  Who are identified therein as "friends" of the USSR?  What countries are identified as having traded information to the KGB for favors wanted?  The implied threat of disclosure remains potent.

Let's see if the Australians follow through on this.  The process would be equally interesting on this side of the Pacific.  pl

 

Comments

[J]

Let's the hounds loose, unleash the dogs of war, oops meant dogs of 'disclosure' to see 'who/whom' are the Soviet KGB & GRU 'moles'. A lot of embarrassing info for some, not to mention their criminal ramifications.

Yes, yes, YES, this process WOULD be VERY interesting on this side of the Pacific.

[J]

In the category of the Countries that traded info to the Soviet KGB in exchange for favors, one immediately comes to mind -- Israel, and their Jonathan Pollard espionage against our U.S..

[David]

Colonel,

This is very interesting. In 1954 there was the defection of the Petrovs who were intelligence officers in the Soviet embassy in Canberra. The Petrovs claimed that they had documents showing that there was an extensive Soviet spy ring in Australia. A public inquiry held soon after concluded that there was no spy ring, though the documents were never made public. The Labor later split in the fall out and this kept them out of power till 1972. I suspect that there are a number of people who would prefer that the true story stays hidden.

[curious]

1954, Australia? What possible significant event could happen there? That place is about as excited as dessert nowhere land. 1954 population was under 10 million.

My guess would be the usual stuff: Uranium mining, remote spy stations, minor league assassination, launching operation into Papua, indonesia, timor, phillipine. fighting commie...

Even now, australia is fairly laughable place. It's utterly penetrated inside out by israel and practically run by US intel. the chinese would probably take over that place after 2020. I bet this blog can take over australia. lol.

My bet. The australian paper content was so banal, it will instantly topple the australian government. (incompetent government, near zero military capability, absolute no control of border and couldn't provide security to citizens. blatant human right violation.. that sort of stuff.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Australia

oz uranium mining history
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2005/20050822_nuclear/nuclear-chronology.htm

btw, "The Mitrokhin Archive And The Secret History Of The KGB" is on the net. It's a pretty hefty book.

[William R. Cumming]

Of course the secret archives of the US probably will never be fully released. After all important and earthshaking information in them largely involving those long dead.But hey I have a friend with a friend from Germany doing a Doctoral thesis on US relationships with the E.German secret police-the Stasi-- and from all indications we were playing in deep you know what with them. By the way the entire Russian olympic team from the Melbourne 1956 Olmpics was dead by 1970 so perhaps that was part of the buried secret. Sports doping and the Australians were complicity with the Soviets in allowing all those "women" with beards to participate in 1956 and make new World records. By the way the Stasi ran sports doping program for the E.Germans and many responsible now work in sports "coaching" in China.