Australia and Germany are quite literally a world apart, and expecting to find many parallels between the two countries might appear counter-intuitive. But as secondary powers in the Anglo-American sphere of influence, many of the resulting challenges the two nations face are indeed identical. Most significantly, the severe curtailment of national sovereignty by a foreign power.

Australia’s and Germany’s paths into the global power structure of what is today referred to as “The West” were quite different. In the first half of the 20th century, Australia was but one of the Dominions of the British Empire, one of the world’s great powers. Germany, for 70 years was, one of the world’s great powers itself. The Second World War meant a significant loss of status for both, with the British Empire financially ruined and Germany militarily, economically, and socially devastated. At the same time, the United States emerged from the Second World War as the global hegemon with Europe as its principal sphere of influence, permanently relegating Great Britain, its Dominions and Germany to nations of a subordinate rank.

Formal Alliances

Once under the umbrella of the United States, the imperatives of the Cold War would express themselves in Australia in much the same way as they did in Germany. The two nations, which had just fought on opposite sides of the great war, were now both tied into a complex network of treaties and alliances, binding them to the US and securing anti-communist conformity. Australia signed the ANZUS agreement in 1951 and joined SEATO in 1954; West Germany was brought into NATO in 1955.

Intelligence Ties

Intelligence agencies, modelled after Britain’s MI5 and MI6, were created in both countries, staffed with anti-communist hardliners, and integrated into the Anglo-American intelligence network. In Australia, ASIO and ASIS were founded in 1949 and 1952 respectively and became part of the long-secret Five Eyes Alliance intelligence sharing network between the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In Germany, the domestic and foreign intelligence agencies – like all major German institutions – were created under allied occupation, which lasted until 1955. The Organisation Gehlen was founded in 1946 (one year before the CIA) and the Verfassungsschutz in 1950. Key personnel in the creation of these agencies, like Reinhard Gehlen and Paul Dickopf, were literal Nazis and long-time CIA agents.

The intelligence agencies lacked transparency and governmental oversight right from the start. The foundation of the Five Eyes Alliance, the UKUSA Treaty from 1946, was not known even to Australian prime ministers until the ‘70s. In Germany, Gehlen’s spy ring reported directly to the Americans until the allied occupation ended. Only then did his organisation come under German federal supervision and was renamed Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND). Gehlen then reported to Adenauer’s Chief of Staff, Hans Globke, another prominent Nazi.

Given the Australian and German intelligence communities’........

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