Fed: Cosgrove says defence could have done better on Collins

AAP General News (Australia)
04-19-2004
Fed: Cosgrove says defence could have done better on Collins

(EDS - Repeating to clarify Collins' rank in first para)



CANBERRA, April 19 AAP - Defence chief Peter Cosgrove has conceded that the Defence
Department had made mistakes in the case of intelligence whistleblower Lieutenant Colonel
Lance Collins.

General Cosgrove admitted defence had not handled Lt Col Collins' case well and said
he had told those responsible to lift their game.

Asked if Lt Col Collins' handling had been fair and transparent, General Cosgrove told
Channel Nine: "In some respects no, because I think that Lance had some of his personal
management not done well.

"I've pointed that out to responsible officers and told them to lift their game and
correct those issues and certainly to give Lance Collins some redress.

"On other issues, to do with his broader issues to do with intelligence, they've been
examined before by competent authorities and I've sent them back for another look.

"I'm not sure where that will go."

Lt Col Collins, the Army's top intelligence analyst, complained that his career stalled
after he criticised the Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) for ignoring his warnings
on East Timor.

He wrote to Prime Minister John Howard last month calling for a royal commission into
Australia's intelligence agencies, citing a list of failures from Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction to failing to predict the Sandline affair in Papua New Guinea.

A military report into his case, leaked last week, said Lt Col Collins had been treated
disgracefully and recommended giving him a retrospective award for his work in East Timor.

Lt Col Collins, whom General Cosgrove handpicked to be his eyes and ears in East Timor,
complained that DIO ignored his warnings of widespread bloodshed following the independence
referendum in the former Indonesian province and tailored its assessments to tell the
government what it wanted to hear.

General Cosgrove said Lt Col Collins was a good officer and performed very well when
they worked together in East Timor.

"I don't necessarily agree with everything he says but I don't resile from the fact
that here is an intelligent and loyal officer who was seeking sincerely to put a point
of view," General Cosgrove said.

He said the reason Lt Col Collins had not been allowed to see the report into his case,
which criticised the DIO, was because it was flawed.

General Cosgrove also denied that the defence department was seeking to frustrate a
parliamentary inquiry into military justice, which resumes hearings later this week.

He said a memo allegedly instructing staff how to keep correspondence under wraps was
routine and of the sort found in many organisations.

"This is an ordinary office protocol and it's used not just in defence (but) in many
government departments, probably in your network, certainly in law firms, it's used everywhere
to have an ordinary protocol over working documentation," he said.

"We're cooperating fully with the inquiry and we're continuing to do so."

Opposition defence spokesman Chris Evans said the memo recommended marking sensitive
documents as "internal working documents" to ensure they could not be tabled before the
parliamentary committee.

Senator Evans said the Defence Department was contacting serving and former military
officers and families of deceased defence personnel ahead of the hearings.

AAP dep/mfh/maur/jlw

KEYWORD: INTELLIGENCE 2ND DAYLEAD (REPEATING)

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