‘Funding, organisational and legislative changes to the six national agencies of the Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) since 2001 have placed intelligence at the forefront of our national security effort. The rapid growth in human and financial resources devoted to intelligence collection and assessment, and the powers given to individual agencies reflects a political judgment, both in Australia and in similar countries overseas, that intelligence is now the most effective tool in the struggle against new security threats such as transnational terrorism.’