| World / Australia / Australian Capital Territory / Canberra, 2 km from center | Coordinates: 35°18'2"S 149°9'6"E |
ONA was established by the Office of National Assessments (ONA) Act 1977 as an independent body directly accountable to the Prime Minister. ONA provides all-source assessments on international political, strategic and economic developments to the Prime Minister and senior ministers in the National Security Committee of Cabinet. The Director-General of ONA is an independent statutory officer who is not subject to external direction on the content of ONA assessments.
ONA bases its assessments on information available to the Australian Government from all sources, both inside and outside the Government. It draws on information provided by other intelligence agencies, as well as diplomatic reporting, information and reporting from other government agencies, and material available from open sources such as news media and publications. ONA also consults broadly within government and with experts in other sectors.
In April 2005, the Open Source Branch (OSB) was incorporated into ONA. The role of the Open Source Branch is to collect and validate open sources and produce value-added open-source intelligence reports for ONA and other Australian and allied government agencies.
In addition to setting out ONA’s assessment function, the ONA Act charges ONA with responsibility for co-ordinating Australia’s foreign intelligence activities and issues of common interest among Australia’s foreign intelligence agencies. ONA is also responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of Australia’s foreign intelligence effort and the adequacy of its resourcing.
Category: government agency intelligence military
 | add your comment in English |