Summary heading

 

Function and purpose

 This series consists of documents received from the Australian security and intelligence agencies. It contains most of the more substantial written evidence furnished to the Royal Commission by the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization (ASIO), Australian Security and Intelligence Service (ASIS), Defence Signal’s Directorate (DSD), Joint Intelligence Office (JIO), Department of Foreign Affairs and the Commonwealth Police.

The term ‘document’ is used to cover a variety of material. The most common ‘document’ in this series is a briefing or submission prepared by the agency, sometimes in response to a specific request from the Commissioner, sometimes on the initiative of the agency itself. Other types of documents include copies of internal reports, guides and references compiled by the agency relating to its own administration, organisation and processes - for example security handbooks, training notes, directives and establishment charts – which together provide a comprehensive picture of the structure and operations of the agency. 

There are some inconsistencies in the way documents were created in this series, which might give the appearance that some are ‘missing’, when in reality, documents were placed in different series. Thus to obtain a full picture of the evidence supplied by the security and intelligence agencies, it is essential to consider more than one series.

The items of this series normally contain just the document itself. Related correspondence is to be found generally in series CRS A12382, CRS A12383 and CRS A12384, though in a few cases correspondence is initiated by the Royal Commission on the ‘Document’ file in this series.

However, contrary to the predominant document capture process, the document files in the Australian Security and Intelligence Service (ASIS) sequence (primary B sequence) include nearly all correspondence received from ASIS, each letter being registered as a document in this series, no matter how routine the subject matter. It appears this was merely a bureaucratic consequence of ASIS’ adopting the Royal Commission document numbering system to control its correspondence with the Royal Commission (see file B/GEN of series CRS A12382).

Some items in the ASIS or ‘B’ sequence of this series were destroyed in the RCIS , in the Archivist’s words ‘ …. on account of their extreme sensitivity or confidentiality, where they plainly had no historical interest, and/or were merely copies’.  (Inventory of Records section 1.5 Para 3.) They are listed as:

B12, B38, B80, B94, B103, B131 and B155.

When a document was received by the Royal Commission it was logged in a register (CRS A12406), indicating the number of copies received and the relevant file numbers. Often more than one copy of the document was received from the agency; one copy was placed in this series and a second copy was placed on the relevant file in either A12382, 12383 or 12384. In a few instances a document logged in the register has been filed on the correspondence file in one of these series instead of on a file in A12389.

The documents are arranged in a number of sequences which are broadly categorised in two sets (intellectually but not physically.) The first set is identified by a single alpha prefix (A, B, C , D or F) which denotes that the document was physically received by the Royal Commission and retained in its custody, being physically integrated into the record keeping system as described above. Documents in the second set are identified by a double alpha prefix (AA or BB) which indicates that they were made available to the Royal Commissioner but due to their particular sensitivity they were not physically integrated into the records of the Royal Commission but were retained in the custody of the agency (ASIO or ASIS) - where they remain. In his Eighth Report (Part D paragraph 90) the Commissioner says: ‘it should never be forgotten that these are Commission records. They should be integrated with the main body of the records as soon as security considerations permit.’ The documents are listed in the Register (CRS A12406) and also in Section 3 of the Inventory of Records (CRS A12396) where they are described in detail.

The allocated ‘meaning’ of the prefixes is in the scheme are:

A – ASIO documents received and retained (range: A1 to A112)

B – ASIS documents received and retained (range: B1 to B156)

C – Commonwealth Police documents received and retained (range C1 to C3)

D – Department of Defence documents received and retained (range D1 to D72)

F – Department of Foreign Affairs documents received and retained (range F1 to F17)

AA – ASIO documents made available only (range AA1 to AA4)

BB – ASIS documents made available only (range BB1 to BB14)

A full description of the system of arrangement and control for this series is explained under the Heading ‘Systems of arrangement and control’. 

 

Physical characteristics

 At the time of transfer to the custody of the National Archives, the documents were contained in paper envelopes. They have now been secured in acid-free folders with National Archives identification and the envelopes discarded. There were no ‘titles’ on the envelopes; the titles attributed to the items have been adopted by reference to the Inventory of Records (CRS A12396) inventory and by examination of the items themselves.

 

System of arrangement and control

 There are two sets of records, one with a single alpha prefix and the second with a double alpha prefix (as described above). The Inventory of Records (A12396) refers to the two sets as separate series, HD1 and HD2. However, this distinction has not been maintained, as the items are physically arranged so that the two sets are integrated.  The items are arranged:

A sequence

AA sequence

B sequence

BB sequence

C sequence

D sequence

F sequence

 

Relationships with other records

 

Finding aids

 Series CRS A12400 is a nominal and subject index to this series (as well an index as to CRS A12381-6)

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Custodial history

 Following the closure of the Royal Commission in 1977 the records were transferred to the custody of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (in Canberra) where they remained until transferred to National Archives of Australia in 2001.