ASIO continues to expand post-9/11

It isn't finished yet but the new multi-million-dollar headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) will need further upgrading, according to the spy agency's annual report.

Overlooking Lake Burley Griffin, the ASIO headquarters is being built to accommodate the massive expansion of the agency since the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent decade-long war on terror.

There are now more than 1700 people working at ASIO.

"It is inevitable that additional capabilities will need to be added to the new building," the report, tabled in the Senate on Tuesday, says.

While the domestic spy agency says the building, last estimated to cost $602 million, will be finished by the middle of next year, staff won't start moving in until late 2012.

The report also says the agency's workload is now heavy, with a long list of emerging cyber threats from individual hackers, loose networks like Anonymous, and nations like China.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8358588