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Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
2024 VCE and Careers Expo
Thu 2 May 2024, 9:00am - Sat 4 May 2024, 3:00pm
Australia's biggest education and careers event is now in its 32nd year in a NEW, BIGGER VENUE!
What it does: The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is a vital member of Australia’s national security community, working across the full spectrum of operations required of contemporary signals intelligence and security agencies: intelligence, cyber security, and offensive operations in support of the Australian Government and Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Mission: ASD's purpose is to defend Australia from global threats and help advance Australia's national interests. We do this by mastering technology to inform, protect and disrupt.
Size and presence: Employing around 5000 people, covering the entire Australian Continent.
Best known for: The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is accountable to the Australian Government and the independent Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security. As an independent statutory agency ASD has corporate reporting obligations, in particular through meeting the requirements of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.
The good bits: ASD has an amazing work environment.
The not-so-good bits: No significant benefits other than pay which is still pretty good.
The history of ASD begins in the Second World War, when Australian Navy, Army, and Air Force personnel were brought together to support General MacArthur’s South-West Pacific campaign by intercepting and decoding Japanese radio signals.
Before that, Navy, Army, and Air Force ‘wireless’ units and intercept stations operated independently, conducting mainly radio intercept and direction-finding activities. While they achieved many successes, there was no central coordination.
From early 1942, Australian, American and British personnel worked together in Central Bureau, Melbourne, attached to General MacArthur’s headquarters, while the joint Australian-American Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne (FRUMEL) supported the US Navy’s 7th Fleet. Late in 1942, Central Bureau moved to Brisbane, following MacArthur’s headquarters; and elements of the bureau deployed with him to the Philippines later in the war.
After the war, as the wartime signals intelligence units were wound down, government approval-in-principle for new peacetime signals intelligence organization was given on 23 July 1946. The new Defense Signals Bureau was established in Melbourne on 1 April 1947. Its role was to exploit foreign communications and be responsible for communications security in the armed services and government departments.
The bureau was renamed Defense Signals Branch in October 1949, a title it retained until January 1964, when it became the Defence Signals Division.
DSD’s intelligence role was formally acknowledged in 1977 in the Prime Minister's statement to the House of Representatives about the Hope Royal Commission into Intelligence and Security. As a result of the inquiry, DSD has renamed the Defence Signals Directorate and made directly responsible to the Secretary of the Department of Defence.
In 1979, DSD finally relocated from its ‘temporary’ accommodation in Albert Park to a new purpose-built facility in Melbourne’s historic Victoria Barracks. In 1986, DSD acquired Australia’s first supercomputer, a Cray Research system. A later Cray supercomputer was donated to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney when it was decommissioned in 1994.
In June 1988, the government decided that DSD should move to Defence headquarters at Russell Offices, Canberra, to facilitate a closer relationship with Defence, other intelligence agencies, and key government departments. The move was completed in two phases over Christmas 1991 and Christmas 1992, with the Minister for Defence officially opening the new office on 4 May 1992.
The 2000s saw a dramatic expansion of the information security role as a result of the explosive growth of the internet and moves to online service delivery by Australian governments. In January 2010 DSD established the Cyber Security Operations Centre to develop a comprehensive understanding of ICT security threats to critical Australian systems and coordinate a response to those threats across government and industry.
In May 2013 DSD was renamed the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to reflect its whole-of-government role in support of Australia’s national security.
In November 2014, the Cyber Security Operations Centre evolved into the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) as the next evolution of Australia's cyber security capability. CSOC was a Defence-based capability that hosted liaison staff from other government agencies. ACSC saw the collocation of all contributing agencies' cyber security capabilities.
In July 2017 the Prime Minister released the unclassified version of the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review. The review made several recommendations, including establishing ASD as a statutory agency within the Defence portfolio, and new arrangements for the Australian Cyber Security Centre to become part of ASD.
The Intelligence Services Amendment (Establishment of the Australian Signals Directorate) Bill 2018, which implements the recommendations of the review, was given Royal Assent and passed into law on 11 April 2018. Consequently, ASD became a statutory agency in the Defence portfolio on 1 July 2018.
In December 2019, the Prime Minister announced Ms. Rachel Noble PSM as the Director-General Designate of ASD. Ms. Noble commenced her appointment in January 2020, becoming the first woman to be appointed to lead ASD.
Our staff is the foundation from which we meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. To support our people, we offer a wide range of learning, development, and career opportunities to grow professionally and personally.
Investing in our staff is one of the keys to our success. We can offer you opportunities to develop your skills and experience in a range of areas.
At ASD, your ongoing learning and development are important to us. We, mentor, develop, and train you to be the best you can be, and provide you with opportunities to take on different challenges.
You will work in multi-disciplinary teams and learn to use a wide range of systems. We encourage you to ask questions, find solutions and look for new ways of doing things.
We will support you with on-the-job training and can provide opportunities to attend industry courses and conferences to further develop your skills for a diverse and rewarding career.
ASD is committed to supporting our people in maintaining a positive work-life balance, and we take an 'if not, why not?' approach to flexible work. We also have established outreach programs and policies to support people who are absent from the workplace, such as those on parental leave or secondment.
In 2018, ASD achieved gender parity in our Senior Executive Service, growing from an initial 30 percent within the year.
While we still have more to do, ASD undertakes a broad range of internal initiatives to improve gender equality at all levels and across all disciplines in our organization.
In 2018, members of our Senior Executive Service undertook Ally training with Pride in Diversity. In 2019, ASD received participation status with the Australian Workplace Equality Index, which is the first step of four tiers in AWEI's LGBTI inclusion employer support program.
Externally, ASD supports a range of national efforts toward encouraging students toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) and improving the representation of women in these fields.
ASD is developing a Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan. This marks our commitment to deliver on the Government’s objective to ‘close the gap’ between Indigenous Australians and the wider Australian community and contribute to our national reconciliation journey.
In 2018, internal engagement events were conducted with ASD’s Senior Executive Service team to discuss neurodiversity in our organization. The neurodiverse community delivers many of the personal traits and professional disciplines required by ASD and we are seeking to ensure our workplace is inclusive of neurodiverse people.
Australia's biggest education and careers event is now in its 32nd year in a NEW, BIGGER VENUE!