Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2019. 400 pp. US$34.10, cloth. ISBN 9780522872804.
Simply put, Brian Toohey has written the most comprehensive book ever about the history of the Australian security state and its key agencies. This comes as no surprise to readers. Since 1973, Toohey has been recognized as one of Australia’s most distinguished journalists. He has written for many of the nation’s top newspapers and magazines, such as the Australian Financial Review, the West Australian, the Sunday Age, the Sun Herald, the Nikkei Asian Review, and he was the editor of the National Times. Additionally, Toohey has authored, or co-authored, four books: Oyster: The Story of the Australian Secret Intelligence (co-authored with William Pinwill), The Book of Leaks, Tumbling Dice: The Story of Modern Economic Policy, and The Winchester Scandal. In some quarters, he has been compared to the highly regarded but controversial American investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.
Toohey’s Secret has the irrefutable feel of being a journalistic memoir, given that the author is 75 years old. He has reported for almost five decades on various elements, events, and issues concerning Australian national security. The book is detailed-oriented, well-researched (34 pages of footnotes are provided), informative, and interesting. I found it hard to put down.
Toohey’s experiences as a reporter and the knowledge that he acquired over many years is quite apparent to the reader from the very beginning of the book. Toohey infers that the genesis of the book stemmed from the avalanche of intimidating and repressive legislation aimed at constricting the media’s ability to cover national security matters, as well as the actions of the national government. Further, potential whistle-blowers have been targeted by the new legislation. The reader senses that a Kafkaesque aura has steadily enveloped Canberra, the nation’s capital.
Instinctively, Toohey views these legislative mandates as a direct threat to the understood natural rights of the average Australian citizen to learn and understand what its government is doing on its behalf. He points out that there have been 75 new laws established to deal with terrorism since the events of 9/11. Toohey believes the passage of the Espionage Act, in June 2018, is representative of the new legal leverage that the central governmental will possess over Australia’s media. Hence, it is now illegal to receive any kind of classified information, in any form—an opinion, a report, a conversation.
Toohey is also deeply troubled by Australia’s dangerous alignment with, and its embracing of, America’s political interests and global agenda, and identifies two serious geopolitical dilemmas that presently confront Australia as a result of this positioning. First, the nations of the Indo-Pacific region are deeply suspicious that Australia’s interests and America’s interests are one and the same. Secondly, the Australian government and the nation’s foreign policy establishment have allowed themselves to be co-opted by the US foreign policy nomenclature. As a result, very few Australian political figures, academics, or journalists are willing to question the real value, and the real danger, of the US-Australian alliance. Hence, Toohey sees these evolving developments as an outright abdication of Australia’s sovereign right and duty to “represent” its people and to create its own “strategic” interests.
Though Secret consists of approximately 330 pages of text, the book’s construct makes for quick reading. The book is divided into ten parts, consisting of sixty chapters overall. The chapters are more like small essays, addressing various subjects relating to the history of Australian foreign policy and the nation’s security agencies.
The primary focus of Secret is the often difficult and volatile national security relationships that Australia had with both major powers, the US and Great Britain. After World War II, Australia became increasingly dependent on US leadership and power in the Pacific region. However, Australia’s quasi-alliance with the Americans did not solidify until the signing of the ANZUS treaty in 1951.
Nevertheless, historically, the pivotal moment for Australia occurred in February 1942 when Britain surrendered to Japan at Singapore. This event influenced the Australian government to reach out to the American government for its very survival as a nation. Once embraced by the US, Australia began the process of slowly moving away from its former colonial master, Great Britain.
After WWII, Australia followed the American lead in the creation of two critical national security agencies: the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (1949) and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (1952). The former was Australia’s version of MI5 (Britain) and the FBI (USA). The latter agency was based upon MI6 (Britain) and the CIA (USA). As is the case in Britain and the US, these security agencies have often been controversial in Australia, and critics claim they are too intrusive and powerful. Toohey agrees that both agencies are in need of much better oversight, but he is doubtful any real reform will occur.
Finally, the book, in its final chapters, deals with US-Australian relations. Toohey does a fine job defining the challenges and issues that both Australia and the US had to confront during the Cold War (a resurgent Japan, the Soviet Union, Korean War, Vietnam War), the post-Cold War (post-Soviet Empire, Eastern Europe, and the rise of China), and the first two decades of the twenty-first century (9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the rise of Asia).
In truth, Toohey is not an ardent admirer of either Australia’s or America’s national security state. But, the author readily admits that both nations need each other. The historic transformation of the world is simply mind-boggling. Nevertheless, Toohey believes that Australia must begin to exhibit a greater degree of policy independence concerning its own regional and global interests.
Reading Toohey’s excellent book will provide the reader with a greater historical understanding concerning Australia’s present-day security state, and its potential future role in the nation’s foreign policy in the twenty-first century.
Randall Doyle
Mid-Michigan Community College, Mt. Pleasant