Australian army officer loses security clearance due to loyalty to Israel

An Australian army officer has had his security clearance revoked after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) determined he posed a risk of being influenced by Mossad due to his strong allegiance to Israel over Australia.

According to the Guardian, during interviews with Asio, the officer reportedly stated that he did not consider Israel a foreign government and admitted he would disclose classified information to the Israeli occupation army if requested.

Asio also found that the officer, a Jewish man with 19 years of service in the Australian military, failed to disclose his participation in training programmes in Israel, where he is not a citizen. These programmes included courses in self-defence, security and firearms training.

In a ruling issued last week by the administrative review tribunal, Asio concluded that the officer, identified in tribunal documents as HWMW, lacked the necessary “character and trustworthiness” required to hold a 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 stated.

The ruling further cited HWMW’s “poor judgement, failure to comply with security clearance obligations, and demonstrated prioritisation of loyalty to Israel over the Australian government,” concluding that his continued access to classified information posed an “unacceptable and avoidable risk to national security.”

Asio considered downgrading his security clearance instead of revoking it outright but determined that “due to HWMW’s demonstrated loyalty to Israel and his withholding of security-relevant information, no such conditions could sufficiently mitigate the risk of potential exploitation by Mossad.”

HWMW enlisted in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 2004, obtaining a Negative Vetting 1 security clearance in 2008, granting him access to classified information up to the “Secret” level. In 2010, his clearance was upgraded to Negative Vetting 2, allowing access to “Top Secret” materials.

Between 2014 and 2023, he volunteered with a Sydney-based Community Security Group (CSG), an organisation providing security and intelligence services to the Jewish community, reported the Guardian.

In 2016 and 2019, he travelled to Israel to participate in CSG training courses focused on tactical planning, self-defence and firearms training. The courses were conducted by Ami-Ad, an organisation promoting Jewish volunteerism and funded by the Israeli government.

HWMW stated that the trainers were former members of the Israel Security Agency and described the training programmes as a “natural recruiting pool” for Mossad.

Asio conducted security assessment interviews with HWMW in 2020 and 2022. In 2023, the director-general of security issued an “adverse security assessment,” leading to the revocation of his security clearance, a decision HWMW later appealed to the tribunal.

During his interviews, HWMW expressed his belief that “Zionism is an essential theme within Judaism” and that Jewish identity inherently includes loyalty to the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

In a written statement to the tribunal, he wrote: “If the ADF prefers not to enlist or commission Jews, it could be argued that such a policy would be discriminatory against the Jewish people.”

Ultimately, the tribunal upheld Asio’s decision, affirming the revocation of HWMW’s security clearance.

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