CANBERRA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- One of Australia's top intelligence officials has warned that the country's international relationships are being threatened by leaks of classified information.
In a submission to Parliament's intelligence and security committee, Director-General of National Intelligence Nick Warner said the "unauthorized disclosure" of sensitive information could jeopardize intelligence-sharing relationships.
The committee was ordered by the government to look into whether there were sufficient legal protections in place for journalists and whistleblowers, or if too much ground had been ceded in favor of national security, according to the report of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.
It followed media outrage after the Australian Federal Police's raids on the Canberra home of News Corp political journalist Annika Smethurst and the ABC's Sydney headquarters over separate stories based on leaked classified information.
"Australia's national security depends on a network of international intelligence partnerships that extends well beyond our traditional allies - the U.S., the UK, Canada and New Zealand - to partners, including in North and South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East," Warner said in his submission.
"The unauthorized disclosure or publication of foreign partner information could have serious ramifications, including putting at risk Australia's relationship with those partners and that country," Warner said.
"Put simply, if those partners do not trust Australian intelligence agencies to keep their intelligence information secret, they will not share it," Warner said.
Executives from the ABC, News Corp and the Nine Network have led calls for new laws protecting journalists.
In its own submission to the inquiry, the ABC said that whistleblowing in the public interest should be decriminalized.
The committee is expected to deliver its report from the inquiry in October.
