What is the job of the Defence Department ? To most people it's main purpose is to keep this country safe - and yet it is severely criticised because it investigated the relationship between the Defence Minister and a national from another country !
That is exactly what we would expect it to do !
In the course of history there have been many instances of state secrets being compromised - and in some cases even treason committed - because of security lapses that went unnoticed by those whose job it was to be attentive.
Just about every country in the world - friendly and unfriendly - maintain agents here to sniff out state secrets and gain commercial advantage. Not all of these are accredited to embassies - and in many cases they appear to be ordinary citizens.
We have our own specifically tasked security agency, but that does not mean that an entity such as the Defence Department must not act on it's own suspicions - and if it carried out an investigation then all the tools available to penetrating sources of information - including hacking into computers - are fair game.
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon is incensed that he was investigated. He feels that this is merely payback because he is pursuing a reform agenda unpopular with his department.
The greatest danger to any country's security occurs when government ministers and heads of departments believe that they are above suspicion and attempt to thwart any attempt to monitor their conduct.
If the minister has nothing to hide, he should be grateful that a diligent department under his care is doing it's job and safeguarding the country's secrets !
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