An officer in the Australian Army has been stripped of his security clearance because Asio believes he is more loyal to Israel than Australia, and at risk of being exploited by the Mossad.
The man told Asio interviewers he did not view Israel as a foreign government and that he would share classified information with the Israel Defense Forces if they asked for it.
Asio said the officer, who is Jewish and served 19 years in the Australian military, withheld information from Australian officials about training courses he had undertaken in Israel – where he is not a citizen – which included self-defence, security and firearms training.
In a decision published by the administrative review tribunal last week, Asio said the officer, anonymised as HWMW in tribunal documents, was not of “appropriate character and trustworthiness to hold any security clearance”.
“HWMW is vulnerable to influence or coercion to enable acts of espionage or foreign interference by Israeli Intelligence Services due to his loyalty to Israel,” the tribunal found.
“By virtue of HWMW’s demonstrated poor judgement, poor security practices, failure to comply with the obligations of a security clearance holder, his vulnerability to influence or coercion by the Israeli Intelligence Services, and HWMW’s demonstrated loyalty to Israel above the Australian government, ASIO assesses if HWMW were to continue to hold any level of security clearance, he would pose an unacceptable and avoidable risk to security.”
Asio said it considered lowering the man’s security clearance level, to restrict his access to sensitive information, but said “due to HWMW’s demonstrated loyalty to Israel and poor judgement by withholding security-relevant information during the security clearance process, no such conditions could adequately mitigate the risk of Mossad exploitation to enable acts of espionage or foreign influence”.
HWMW joined the Australian defence forces in 2004. In 2008, he obtained a negative vetting 1 security clearance – allowing access up to classified resources up to Secret. This was upgraded to negative vetting 2 – Top Secret access – in 2010.
He joined a Sydney community security group (CSG) as a volunteer between 2014 and 2023. The CSG is a community organisation that provides security and intelligence services to the Jewish community.
HWMW travelled to Israel in 2016 and in 2019, to participate in CSG training courses, which included tactical planning, self-defence and firearms training. The courses run by an organisation called Ami-AD, an association promoting volunteerism in Jewish communities, and financed by the Israeli government. The trainers on the course were former members of the Israel Security Agency, he said.
He said he believed the training courses were a “natural recruiting pool” for the Mossad.
HWMW was interrogated by Asio officers in security assessment interviews in 2020 and 2022.
In 2023, the director-general of security issued an Asio “Adverse Security Assessment” on the officer recommending the revocation of his security clearance. HWMW appealed against the decision to the tribunal.
HWMW told Asio: “Zionism is an essential theme within Judaism. Judaism mandates the loyalty of a Jew to his people and to the Land of Israel.”
He said most Australian Jews do not volunteer to serve in the Australian Defence Force, but rather the Israel Defense Forces. He said he volunteered to serve in the ADF “as I felt a strong sense of belonging to Australia and I wanted to give back to the country and demonstrate the importance of serving here in Australia as opposed to the IDF”.
“It seems that events have now turned on me.”
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In his interviews, HWMW said the purpose of his travel to Israel was for “community leadership” courses.
Under cross examination, HWMW maintained “there was no lie in that” but conceded “it wasn’t a complete disclosure”.
He later said, “I provided a truth, it’s not the full truth … it was only to save myself from interrogation and questioning.”
He said his failure to disclose his participation in CSG training courses “was an error on my part … and if I had my time again I would provide the full information”.
In a written statement to the tribunal HWMW said the ADF was a multicultural organisation that accepted “all peoples regardless of their race, religion, or sex”.
“Allowing Jews to serve within the ADF must come with an understanding that the Jew will have a level of loyalty for the Jewish Nation and for [the] State of Israel.”
He said if the ADF preferred not to enlist or commission Jews, “it would then be argued that this policy may be discriminatory to the Jewish People”.
He told the tribunal he only ever joined the Community Security Group “to play a role safeguarding the local community from attacks, so that my children, my family and the broader Jewish community can continue to be a thriving proud Jewish community in Australia, and a community loyal to Australia”.
The tribunal supported Asio’s decision to revoke the officer’s security clearance, saying the adverse security assessment was affirmed.
