History

The Office of National Assessments (ONA), was established as an independent agency in 1978 following the Government's passage of the Office of National Assessments Act 1977. This was in line with the recommendations of the first Hope Royal Commission.

ONA began operations on 20 February 1978. The inaugural Director-General Robert Furlonger (1977-81) was a former Ambassador to Indonesia and head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO). Furlonger was determined that ONA would be a broad, outwardly engaged and intellectually curious organisation.

Michael Cook, our second Director-General, cemented ONA's place in government during the last decade of the Cold War. With a fierce intellect and a firm leadership style, Cook went on to be Australia's Ambassador to the USA.

In the second Hope Royal Commission (1983-84), Justice Hope recognised that ONA had proven itself as an impartial producer of intelligence assessments. He also recommended the establishment of the National Intelligence Committee to advise the Director-General on the Government's intelligence priorities and assist in the programming of ONA's analytical work.

At the outbreak of the first Gulf War in 1990, ONA was operating under the direction of Geoffrey Miller (1989-95). The 1990s posed many challenges for analysts working on developments in the Middle East (particularly Iraq), in Europe following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Yugoslav Wars, and concerning Australia's commitments to United Nations' peacekeeping efforts throughout the world.

The late 1990s saw the appointments of Philip Flood (1995–96), Richard J. Smith (1996–98) and Kim Jones (1998–2003) as Directors-General.

Philip Flood's 2004 inquiry into the effectiveness of Australia's intelligence apparatus recommended that ONA be doubled in size and its mandate to coordinate and evaluate Australia's foreign intelligence activities be strengthened. The appointment of Peter Varghese (2004–09) as Director-General coincided with the expansion of ONA's staffing to about 150. At the same time, the collection and analysis of open source intelligence became one of ONA's core functions.

Under Allan Gyngell (2009–13), ONA moved into its own purpose-built office after thirty years housed within Defence facilities and then ASIO's headquarters. Opened by Prime Minister Gillard on 5 December 2011, the new building was named after Justice Hope.

In 2017, former Director-General of ASIS, Nick Warner, was appointed as Director-General, setting in motion the transition of ONA to its new role as the Office of National Intelligence, as recommended in the 2017 Independent Intelligence Review.

Following the passage of the Office of National Intelligence Act on 29 November 2018, ONI formally came into being on 20 December 2018.

Nick Warner was appointed as the first Director-General of National Intelligence, serving for two years in the role.

Andrew Shearer was appointed as the second Director-General of National Intelligence in December 2020.