Intelligence officers, is that what is commonly referred to as spies?
McCLELLAND: Yes, I suppose in that sense, but in a variety of sorts. Some analyse material, and so forth. It’s been certainly a very significant job building up the numbers, and they’re now in the final stages of what’s called the Taylor recommendations to bring it up to the 1,860, and then the numbers will stabilise after that. BARRON: Now, when people hear about ASIO looking for intelligence officers, I suppose you would inevitably get a whole lot of people with James Bond fantasies thinking it’s all about tuxedos and cocktail parties, and shoe phones. Are those people the people that you want or you definitely do not want? McCLELLAND: There is a whole mix of people. I’ve met someone who was a zoologist, I’ve met someone who had a PhD in biology, I’ve met someone who used to be a bricklayer, as well as a number obviously with sophisticated academic qualifications. So there’s a whole mix. Essentially they’ve got to be balanced, they’ve got to be culturally aware, they’ve got to be abl
