<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339117</docID> <postdate>2025-02-26 12:19:02</postdate> <headline>Officer stripped of security clearance still in ADF</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339118" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20240109001886771177-original-1-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1564" /></p> <caption>An Australian army officer said he would share classified information with Israel if asked to do so. (Dave Hunt/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p class="wire-column__preview__author"><span class="kicker-line">By <b>Tess Ikonomou</b> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>An army officer stripped of his security clearance due to ASIO's concern he is more loyal to Israel than Australia has not been kicked out of the nation's defence force.</strong></p> <p>Despite having served in the Australian Defence Force for 19 years, the officer told ASIO he did not view Israel as a foreign government and would share classified information with its military if asked for it.</p> <p>Under questioning at a Senate Estimates hearing on Wednesday, Chief of Army Lieutenant-General Simon Stuart confirmed the officer still remained in the ADF in the inactive reserve, pending administrative action.</p> <p>Greens Senator David Shoebridge grilled defence officials on why this was the case.</p> <p>"What does it take to have somebody removed from the ADF?" he said.</p> <p>"Ensuring that members of the ADF, their highest loyalty is to Australia. I would have thought is something that you would take as incredibly serious."</p> <p>Senator Shoebridge asked if a review had been undertaken to ensure no other ADF members had undergone training making them susceptible to recruitment by a foreign government.</p> <p>The question was taken on notice.</p> <p>Defence force chief Admiral David Johnston said the ADF had "clear expectations" members fully complied with the rules.</p> <p>Anonymised as HWMW, a tribunal backed in the adverse security assessment made by the intelligence agency in June 2023, to revoke the army officer's high-level clearance which allows access to top secret information.</p> <p>"HWMW is vulnerable to influence or coercion to enable acts of espionage or foreign interference by Israeli Intelligence Services due to his loyalty to Israel," the tribunal found.</p> <p>The Jewish officer, who is not an Israeli citizen, withheld information from Australian officials about training courses he had completed overseas.</p> <p>"Zionism is an essential theme within Judaism. Judaism mandates the loyalty of a Jew to his people and to the Land of Israel," he told ASIO.</p> </body>