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How ASIO got it right during a time it got so much wrong

28 Oct 05:45am

Filed under: Asio, Communism, Espionage, Security, Spys, Vladimir Petrov

I’ve written before about how, at the age of 25, I discovered that my father was a very senior member of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.

At the time it seemed like a lot of drama… Evdokia Petrov is escorted through Sydney Airport by Soviet escorts in 1954.

I was visiting him in Washington, where he was serving in what had once been Kim Philby’s job - as the SIS liaison with the CIA. One reason that he chose to tell me on that visit, I think, was that during my stay at his house in Washington, some of his colleagues from London would also be visiting.

He needed to know that I would not say or do anything untoward. I was, after all, a long-haired journalist working for the Sydney rock station Double-Jay. Not exactly prime security material.

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PeterinBrisbane says:

09:18am | 30/10/10

People who criticise the efforts of the anti communist agencies would do well to consider that without doubt the most evil force the world has ever faced has been communism. Its’ aim was the destruction of every other society in the world by sabotaging their economies and subverting the weak… Read more »
James Wheeldon says:

05:17pm | 28/10/10

Mark Aarons is not reliable and his book is not to be trusted. He includes a bunch of discredited nonsense in his book, including the allegation that my father - the late Senator John Wheeldon - was a “secret member” of the Communist Party of Australia. Supposedly, Aarons knew my… Read more »

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