Kerri Hartland to become first female chief of Australia's foreign spy agency

Canberra [Australia], December 19 (ANI): Kerri Hartland will become the first woman to lead Australia's foreign spy agency. She will become director-general of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) in February, VOA News reported.

Hartland, a former senior public servant, has been overseeing the reform of the workplace culture in Australia's federal parliament after a series of scandals and allegations of sexual assault, VOA News reported, adding that she is the first woman chosen to run the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

Further, according to the news report, Hartland does not have the experience of traditional armed forces or foreign affairs background but was the deputy director-general of the domestic spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, between 2011 and 2017.

In a statement issued on December 9, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Hartland will bring "excellent strategic, operational and people leadership" skills to her new role.

The director general of the Australian Signals Directorate is also a woman. Appointed in 2020, Rachel Noble is the first woman to assume office as the director general of the Australian Signals Directorate.

"At a time when Australia's external environment is being reshaped, the work of ASIS is critical to defending our interests and keeping Australians safe," Australian PM Anthony Albanese said in the press release.

"Ms Hartland will bring excellent strategic, operational and people leadership to her new role, having served as the Secretary of the Department of Employment, Small and Family Business from 2017 to 2020, and as Deputy Secretary of Human Services from 2006 to 2011," he added.

Speaking to VOA News, William Stoltz, the policy director at the National Security College at the Australian National University, said Hartland has been appointed in the role to oversee fundamental change at ASIS.

Stoltz said ASIS, for about 20 years, has been working closely with British Secret Intelligence Service and the CIA with a focus on counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the Middle East, as per the news report.

Stoltz added that Australia's foreign spy agency's focus has now shifted to China.

"I mean, we have come off about 20-years of ASIS working quite closely with British Secret Intelligence Service and the American CIA with a predominant focus on counterterrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the Middle East," VOA News quoted Stoltz as saying. (ANI)