ASIO has a wide range of surveillance powers to collect human and signals intelligence. In , ASIO had a staff of around 1, The special investigative powers available to ASIO officers under warrant signed by the Attorney-General include: [ 1 ]. The Director-General also has the power to independently issue a warrant should a serious security situation arise and a warrant requested of the Attorney-General has not yet been granted.
An ASIO officer may, without warrant, ask an operator of an aircraft or vessel questions about the aircraft or vessel, its cargo, crew, passengers, stores or voyage; and to produce supporting documents relating to these questions.
When investigating terrorism, the Director-General may also seek a warrant from an independent judicial authority to allow: [ 1 ].
The Director-General is not empowered to independently issue a warrant in relation to the investigation of terrorism. While the Act does not define any activities specifically to be legal, that is, to grant immunity for any specific crime, it does provide exceptions that will not be granted immunity.
Section 35k 1 [ 1 ] defines these activities as not being immune from liability for special intelligence conduct during special intelligence operations. That is to say, an ASIO operative would be deemed to have committed a crime if they were to participate in any of the following activities under any circumstances:. Because of the nature of its work, ASIO does not make details of its activities public and law prevents the identities of ASIO officers from being disclosed.
