Former intelligence officer Neil Fergus raided by ASIO and AFP after Four Corners appearance
Neil Fergus was interviewed for the Four Corners program Traitor, which aired in June last year. (Four Corners, file photo)
In short:
A team of ASIO and AFP officers raided Mr Fergus's home and company office in Sydney in February.
Mr Fergus said during the raids, ASIO officers cited media reports in which he had made comments that were seen to be critical of the organisation.
He said ASIO officers told him it did not intend to recommend charges against him.
Australia's most senior private security specialist has been targeted in raids conducted by Australia's premier intelligence agency ASIO that appear to have been prompted at least in part by his media appearances including on the ABC's Four Corners program.
Neil Fergus, a former senior intelligence officer and CEO of the private security firm Intelligent Risks, was raided by ASIO with AFP officers in attendance in February when search warrants were executed at his Sydney home and office.
Mr Fergus said he was initially advised by federal authorities that the raids related to Chinese intelligence operations, but the subsequent interviews conducted with him by ASIO focused on his work for the organisation from the 1990s into the 2000s, when he conducted covert investigations to try to identify a "mole" within ASIO who had been working for the Russian spy service providing highly classified documents in return for money.
The ASIO mole was the subject of a Four Corners program, Traitor, in June 2023.
The program identified the mole as Ian George Peacock, a former World War II RAAF fighter pilot who became ASIO's supervisor of espionage in the 1970s and then volunteered to provide classified information to the Russian spy agency, the KGB.
Peacock became a so-called "precious agent" for the KGB, providing the agency with highly classified intelligence including top secret material from Australia's Five Eyes intelligence partners, the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand.
Mr Fergus was interviewed for the Four Corners story in his capacity as an international security specialist and CEO of Intelligent Risks, not as a former intelligence officer.
He told the ABC: "At this particular point in time when this ASIO mole volunteered his services and betrayed his country, he was of critical importance [to the KGB] … He was the first mole recruited in ASIO so they were deliriously happy."
Several other former ASIO officers were interviewed for the story. ASIO did not participate.
Four Corners identified the mole as Ian George Peacock. (Four Corners: Nick Wiggins. Images: Supplied)
On February 24 this year, more than a dozen ASIO officers accompanied by the AFP raided Mr Fergus's family home and the office of his company, Intelligent Risks, in Sydney's northern suburbs.
Mr Fergus has told the ABC the warrants for the raids appeared to relate to his work for ASIO investigating the Russian penetration, which he says was done under the authority of the then ASIO Director-General.
Mr Fergus says that during the raids he was questioned extensively about his involvement in the Four Corners program and accused of providing Peacock's name to the ABC, which both he and the ABC deny.
Peacock was identified in the Four Corners program by Canadian intelligence specialist Dan Mulvenna, who said Peacock's identity as a mole had been revealed by Russian defectors.
Four Corners also obtained confirmation of Peacock's identity from a high-level official source.
Loading...Mr Fergus said that during the raids, officers showed or referred to extensive emails and phone messages with the producers of the Four Corners program (including this journalist).
He said he was told, "You appear in the media too much," and that the ASIO officers present cited to him at least three other media stories in which he had made comments seen to be critical of the organisation.
Mr Fergus has been under contract to Nine news as a national security commentator since 2002.
He has also worked for and provided commentary for the ABC.
Mr Fergus says he has lodged a formal complaint with the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security about the raids.
He says ASIO has informed him it does not intend to recommend charges.
He says he has requested an apology to his family from the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess, but the organisation has declined to issue one.
Mr Fergus was an intelligence officer with ASIO from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
He was seconded by the Sydney Olympic Games organising committee to run the Olympic Intelligence Centre for the 2000 Games.
Since then he has been involved in providing security for a further 10 Olympic Games and has conducted several reviews for the International Olympic Committee.
He received the IOC's Award of the Golden Olympic Rings for his contribution.
He has also been an adviser to the Commonwealth Games Federation since 2004, working on six Commonwealth Games.
According to Mr Fergus's CV on his company website, he has conducted reviews for the Australian Government and undertaken projects for the US State Department's Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program and for the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Brunei, China, Colombia, France, Greece, India, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UAE and the UK.
He has also advised on security planning for several international political summits including APEC, ASEAN, CHOGM, G20 and NATO meetings.
Neil Fergus founded his company, Intelligent Risks, in 2001. (ABC News: Gavin Coote, file photo)
In recent years, Mr Fergus has worked extensively to secure the release of people kidnapped or forcibly detained around the world, with involvement in some 50 such cases.
In 2021, after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Mr Fergus's company worked with the Australian Defence Force to coordinate the evacuation of the Afghan women's football team from Afghanistan.
His company has since arranged the evacuation of more than 200 people from Afghanistan.
In 2022, Mr Fergus was awarded the Outstanding Security Professional Award recognising him as Australia's leading security consultant and the Australian Sports Medal awarded by the governor-general.
Mr Fergus said he recently learned that highly damaging information about the ASIO raids had been provided to the media.
He told the ABC: "What appears to be the deliberate leaking to elements of the media is improper and potentially illegal under the Commonwealth Crimes Act.
"This entire matter is likely to raise further issues with Australia's key Five Eyes partners about the competence and ethics of Australia's national security agency."
A colleague and friend of Mr Fergus, William Dent, also a former intelligence officer, told the ABC he was shocked by ASIO's treatment of Mr Fergus.
"I am appalled by the persistence shown by some people, reportedly 'senior serving ASIO officers', to continue prosecuting this matter through the media, even though its investigation found no information suggesting any actions by Mr Fergus were prejudicial to national security.
"Further, Mr Fergus was advised that the matter had been closed." Mr Dent said.
An ASIO spokesperson said: "Consistent with longstanding practice, ASIO does not comment on individuals or investigations."
Watch the full Four Corners investigation, Traitor: Australia's greatest untold spy story, on ABC iview now.