COMMONWEALTH SECURITY SERVICE
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWI

On 5 March 1941, Brigadier Combes, the former Director of Military Operations and Intelligence, Lieutenant Colonel Mawhood and the new DMO & I, Colonel McKenzie agreed that Lieutenant Eric Edwin Longfield Lloyd should be the Director of the newly established Commonwealth Security Service CSS which became operational on 31 March 1941. Deputy Directors were appointed in each of the States. The CSS came under the Attorney-General's Department. CSS Headquarters was located in the Patent Office in Canberra.

The existence of the CSS was meant to remain a secret. It was to gather and collate information on hostile, alien, subversive or pacifist organisations and individuals, sabotage, and leakage of information, and to pass material to Customs, police, immigration or other agencies for appropriate action.

The Deputy Director of CSS in South Australia was a part time civilian. The Deputy Director in Western Australia was untrained. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wake, the Deputy Director in Queensland was also the state head of both the Military Intelligence Division MID and the Commonwealth Investigation Branch CIB.

Captain Roy Kendall of Secret Intelligence Australia SIA did not trust the Commonwealth Security Service, particularly Lieutenant Colonel Robert Wake, the Deputy Director in Queensland. SIA although officially known as Section B of General Douglas MacArthur's Allied Intelligence Bureau was controlled by the Secret Intelligence Service in the UK, in other words MI6.

On 18 October 1941, J. C. Mawhood located at 46 Washington Street, Toorak, S.E.2. submitted a report on a review of Military Intelligence in Australia to the Solicitor General.

REFERENCES

"Australia's First Spies - The Remarkable Story of Australia's Intelligence Operations, 1901-45" by John Fahey

"The Intrigue Master - Commander Long and Naval Intelligence in Australia, 1913-1945" by Barbara Winter

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"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 12 August 2020   

This page last updated 12 August 2020