Missing Pieces: - Royal Australian Navy

a uniTed naTiOns ‘POlice acTiOn’: kORea 1950–53
But the most important development was the decision to regularise the Allied Sigint
exchange arrangements that had developed during WWII. At the London Signals
Conference of April 1946, the Commonwealth partners agreed to maintain their
relationships, and the Chifley Government approved Australia’s participation in the
Commonwealth Sigint Organisation on 12 November 1947. 455 Britain then acted on
behalf of her smaller partners in negotiating the ‘UKUSA’ Agreement with the United
States, which entered into force in 1948.
The remnants of FRUMEL, the Australian personnel who had worked in Central
Bureau, and the RAN’s shore wireless stations, the wireless units of the Army and
RAAF, provided the framework for an excellent and respected post-war Sigint service.
A Melbourne Signals Intelligence Centre was agreed at the 1946 London conference,
and the organisation was brought into official existence by the Australian Government
on 23 July 1946 as the Defence Signals Bureau (DSB). Its role was ‘to exploit foreign
communications and be responsible for communications security in the Australian
Services and Government Departments.’ 456
Developments were equally significant from an intelligence analysis viewpoint. With
the relocation to Japan of GHQ SWPA as the Headquarters Supreme Commander
Allied Powers, there was a need to replace the intelligence service it had provided. The
outcome of many discussions was the establishment of a Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB),
overseen by the Chiefs of Staff Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) to provide military
and political leaders with strategic intelligence. This bureau was to have an important
influence on the development of Australian strategy towards the region. 457
The nascent Australian intelligence apparatus required skilled personnel, much of
which was departing the services for more highly paid civilian jobs with apparently
better prospects. 458 The RAN eviscerated its intelligence capabilities with the
disbandment of the RAN Reserve and the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service
(WRANS), which had provided the majority of the intelligence personnel during the
war. 459 With them went the hard-earned experience that had supported the naval
operational commanders during the conflict. However, the RAN did become involved
in the collection of strategic intelligence, with the attachment of officers to CCAS staff
for collection on ‘Saigon-Manila to the North’ and on Japan, and with another officer
sent as a ‘political observer’ in Saigon. 460
Two other intelligence organisations deserve a short mention. An Australian
Intelligence and Security Service (ASIS) was established along the lines of the wartime
Special Operations Australia to covertly collect non-military intelligence in regional
countries. 461 Finally, in response to concerns over Australian security voiced principally
by the United States, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) was
established in March 1949 with the role of counter-intelligence.
• • • • •
151