Exclusive: Australia's cyber spy agency will be grilled at a parliamentary hearing over its shock decision to cancel a contract with the Australian National University to write its official history | Gallo_Ways
on Saturday, has embarrassed some senior members of the Morrison government who have been urging the agency to be more transparent.
Senator Patrick said the ASD "can expect to be grilled" by him at a Senate estimates hearing next month."How much public money has been spent under the contract since the work commenced? For what reason did ASD terminate the contract? What are the plans moving forward? These are just some of the questions that must be answered by ASD," Senator Patrick said.
ASD director-general Rachel Noble, who took over in February this year, made the decision to cancel the contract, sources familiar with the decision confirmed. "An attempt to write a history from within will reasonably be met with significant concerns about bias and incompleteness. The words 'secret agency' and 'autobiography' should never be used in the same sentence, ever."
A spokesman for the ASD said it remained committed to delivering an account of its history in time for its 75th anniversary in 2022.
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