It is probably not surprising that much of the limited amount of writing on Australia's intelligence agencies has concentrated on what is most distinctive about them – their secrecy and culture – rather than their place in public administration. Most analysis has focussed on their technical capabilities, their external links, their relationship with politicians and the political process, and the culture of intelligence.

This way of looking at the agencies has been reinforced by the mystification and sometimes excessive secrecy in which they have traditionally wrapped themselves, and by the media's willing suspension of disbelief when reporting on many intelligence matters. As commissioners Samuels and Codd commented in their 1995 report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Australian Secret Intelligence Service: “The fascination which journalists apparently feel for secret organizations tends to expel judgment and restraint”.

This chapter looks at the intelligence agencies in a different way, as part of the Australian foreign policy making machinery. It describes their structure and functions, their links with overseas agencies and their relationships with Australian policy-makers in order to answer the question, “How do the intelligence agencies influence the formulation and implementation of Australian foreign policy?” Would Australian foreign policy be different if we did not have this particular intelligence community?

Australia has been in the intelligence business since the beginning of its nationhood. The new Federal Government sent a French-speaking agent under cover as a businessman to gather intelligence in New Caledonia in 1901.