The inside account of Australia's national intelligence organisation as it grappled with continuing espionage from foreign agents and the rise of terrorist attacks on Australian soil during the years of the Fraser and Hawke governments. This is the third and final volume of the Official History of ASIO.

The Cold War between the West and the Soviet Bloc didn't end with detente in 1975: it just went underground. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 tensions between the superpowers continued to play out across the world..

Until now, few would have known of the surprising extent of clandestine operations in Australia by foreign intelligence operatives and the violence-prone activities of local extremist groups from the Middle East, Armenia and Croatia in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, prompted by probing royal commissions and reviews, ASIO was being systematically transformed into a modern intelligence organisation.

The Secret Cold War uncovers behind the scenes stories of the Hilton bombing in Sydney, assassinations of diplomats, the Combe-Ivanov affair, and the new threat from China. It reveals that KGB officers were able to recruit and run agents in Australia for many years, and it follows ASIO's own investigations into persistent allegations of penetration by Soviet moles.

The Secret Cold War is the third and final volume of The Official History of ASIO. The Secret Cold War concludes the seminal trilogy of the Official History of ASIO, and provides an unabashed perspective into ASIO's inner workings throughout the 1970s and 1980s.' - His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia.


Contents
Part 1 ASIO during the Fraser Years, 1975-1983: 1 Hope for a New Beginning: Responding to New Leadership and the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security, 1975-1983 -- 2 Woodward Makes His Mark: Restructuring and Refocusing, 1976-1983 -- 3 Personnel: The Crucial Resource, 1975-1983 -- 4 Confronting a New Face in Terrorism: Responding to the Ananda Marga, 1977-1983 -- 5 Combating Terrorism: Developing Mechanisms for Dealing with Politically Motivated Violence and Terrorism, 1975-1983 -- 6 Terrorism from Overseas: ASIO's Counter terrorism Targets, 1975-1983 -- 7 Monitoring Fractious Revolutionaries: Counter-subversion, 1975-1983 -- 8 Vetting, Assessing and Advising: Protective Security, 1975-1983 -- 9 Chasing Shadows: Investigating the Soviets, 1975-1983 -- 10 Managing Competing Priorities: Countering Non-Soviet Espionage, 1975-1983 ----

Part 2 ASIO during the Hawke Years, 1983-1989: 11 The Combe-Ivanov Affair: ASIO's Startling Welcome for Hawke, 1983 -- 12 Working in ASIO: Life Inside ASIO during the Second Hope Royal Commission, 1983-1985 -- 13 Implementing Hope: Reform and Organisational Change under Harvey Barnett -- 14 Moving and Shaking: ASIO under Alan Wrigley and John Moten, 1985-1989 -- 15 A Conceptual Shift: Developing New Approaches to Subversion and Terrorism, 1983-1989 -- 16 Politically Motivated Violence: Countering Terrorism and 'Identity Extremism', 1983-1989 -- 17 Protective Security: New Approaches for Changing Times, 1983-1989 -- 18 Mixed Counterespionage Strategies: Counterespionage During the Hawke Government, 1983-1989 -- 19 Looking for Moles: Counterintelligence and the Penetration of ASIO, 1975-1989 -- Conclusion: Reflections on ASIO and the End of the Cold War.