ASD stories

The Australian Signals Directorate has a rich history. ASD can trace its origins back to the Second World War then was formed as a peacetime signals intelligence organisation in Albert Park, Melbourne. To learn more about ASD’s roots and beginnings, read some of our stories.

Leut Eric Nave, 1925

Captain Eric Nave

On 7 November 2024, Captain Eric Nave became the first Australian to be included in the NSA/CSS (National Security Agency/Central Security Service) Cryptologic Hall of Honor in recognition of his lifetime of high achievement in the cryptologic field.

DSB staff at Albert Park Barracks circa 1953

Organisational history/progression – from a Bureau in Melbourne to a Directorate in Canberra

In Albert Park, Melbourne, DSB was born from the remnants of two wartime signals intelligence units, Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL) and Central Bureau. An organisation primarily comprised of analysts and technologists, DSB’s purpose was to exploit foreign communications and protect communications security in the armed services and government departments.

RDF Section Air-Ground comms and plotting board

DSD in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was one of the first major military operations supported by the Defence Signals Division, as ASD was known in the 1960s. In 1966, Prime Minister Harold Holt announced an increase in Australia’s contribution to the defence of South Vietnam. As part of Australia’s contribution to the United States intelligence network, DSD liaison officers were deployed to Vietnam alongside a signals intelligence support unit known as 547 Signal Troop.

CRAY Supercomputer on display in Brindabella Park, Canberra.

ASD and cyber

ASD works with government and industry to detect and respond to threats to critical infrastructure. When a government agency asks for cyber support, or when a business entity or a member of the public reports a cyber-incident, ASD responds. This is ASD’s ‘licence to operate’.

UKUSA Agreement Title Page

Intelligence partnerships

During the Second World War, the Allies’ power was drawn from the strength of its partnerships. In 1946, the post-war signals intelligence relationship between the US and the UK was captured in the British-US Communication Intelligence Agreement (BRUSA), now known as the UKUSA Agreement. Although the agreement was between the UK and USA, the UK sponsored the entry of Australia, New Zealand and Canada

Special telegraphists outside Central Bureau HQ (AWM P00123.001)

ASD’s origin story

ASD can trace its origins back to the Second World War, when Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force personnel were brought together to support General MacArthur’s South-West Pacific campaign by intercepting and decoding Japanese radio signals. 1942 saw the formation of two key organisations: Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL) and Central Bureau.

Nyrambla (State Library of Queensland, Neg 67869)

The Garage Girls

At the rear of Nyrambla, Central Bureau’s headquarters, there was a garage from which personnel from the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) operated. Nicknamed the ‘Garage Girls’ for the location of their operations, these women used TypeX machines, British cipher machines that were adapted from the German Enigma machines, to send and receive encrypted communications between Allied forces.