Aussie intel cutout Omni Executive accused of leveraging ties to abusive units in Afghanistan to rake in massive contracts. The firm allegedly inked the no-bid deals while conducting warrantless domestic spying ops
A whistleblower complaint obtained by The Grayzone alleges industrial scale corruption by three former SAS operatives linked to a private firm, which operates as a “front company…for deployable, offshore covert or clandestine intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities” on behalf of the Australian government.
The document, submitted anonymously by an Australian Defence Force whistleblower with knowledge of the matter to Canberra’s National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), alleges that the three influential SAS veterans are implicated in the corrupt operations of a company named Omni Executive.
Founded in Canberra in 2012, Omni Executive boasts on its website of being “trusted, proven, Australian.” Its mission is described as “delivering innovative defence, national security, intelligence and critical infrastructure solutions to further our national interest.” An “Australian veteran-owned enterprise,” Omni employs in excess of 400 staff, all of whom boast “a wealth of experience in intelligence, special operations, law enforcement, emergency services, engineering, and aviation.”
An Australian Defence Force (ADF) source has claimed a “murky arrangement” existed between senior officers within Canberra’s Special Operations Command and Omni’s founders. “The lines seemed very blurry,” they said. “They seemed to have cracked some sort of code – [Omni] does dodgy stuff for Defence so they can pretend it’s not them, even though they provide [Omni] with everything [they] need. A win-win arrangement.”
The three individuals named in the whistleblower complaint were no strangers to the kind of “dodgy stuff” implied by the source. Before the creation of Omni, the operators were previously affiliated with a highly secretive Australian SAS unit known as 4 Squadron, which was modeled off the notoriously brutal US JSOC special forces group.
4 Squadron’s cloak-and-dagger work combined typical special forces functions with human intelligence gathering, which is traditionally the preserve of civilian spying agencies. In 2012, after journalists revealed the existence of the unit, as well as its involvement in targeted assassinations and other covert activities across the African continent, a decision was apparently made to move 4 Squadron underground.
By doing so, an ADF source claims Australian officials effectively “bought 4 Squadron off the shelf as a going concern.” Now, a growing body of evidence suggests Omni was secretly established — and initially funded — by the Australian military, in order to continue 4 Squadron’s operations after they were publicly exposed.
Anonymous military veterans who witnessed the company’s creation up close have testified to an unsettling lack of official distinction between the private company and 4 Squadron. The SAS unit’s spying equipment was transferred directly to Omni, along with several personnel. To this day, many Omni employees list their location as Russell, Australia, the headquarters of the Australian Defence Forces.
High ranking government officials accused
Omni Executive was founded by Jon Hawkins, a 25-year ADF veteran. Since its inception, the company has reaped hundreds of millions from government contracts, often without competitive tender. After the controversy in Africa left 4 Squadron’s reputation in tatters, numerous members of the unit left official military service and joined Omni. At that point, the Australian government provided them with “surveillance and communications equipment” outside “typical Department of Defence procurement channels,” the complaint alleges.
Since 2015, according to public records, Omni has reaped over $230 million in intelligence and security contracts from Australia’s Department of Defence and other government agencies. Details of how much the company earned from government contracts, and what it was doing, over the prior three years are unavailable. Omni is evidently trusted at the highest levels, as even the office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet are listed among its clients.
The whistleblower complaint alleges “senior [Special Operations Command] officers involved in procurement decisions gave preferential treatment to Hawkins, who made a significant financial gain.” They add, “there were clear conflicts of interest and breaches of Commonwealth procurement guidelines”:
“The establishment of Omni Executive and subsequent awarding of more than $230 million on contracts involves conflicts of interest, a lack of public oversight and activities that have questionable legality, including the use of Commonwealth assets for domestic surveillance without warrant or other normal oversight processes. Furthermore, Omni Executive is potentially utilising Commonwealth assets (aircraft) for commercial services they offer.”
Questions linger over whether another SAS veteran named in the NACC complaint named Vance Khan exploited his position to secure profitable deals for Omni. Khan’s official Australian government directory entry appears to have been scrubbed of references to this post. It remains a mystery why so little information about him can be found online, or why his face is cropped out from his official “Special Forces Roll Of Honour” profile.
The whistleblower complaint notes Khan now manages the National Indigenous Australians Agency. Indigenous Australians have been subjected to rampant societal discrimination, counting as disproportionate victims of police brutality. By some accounts, they are 16.5 times more likely to die in police custody than non-indigenous Australians. Given Khan’s military record, it is unclear why he still occupies a post presiding over the affairs of this community.
A secret Australian spying agency?
In August 2001, the Australian government of then Prime Minister John Howard sparked international outcry after not only refusing to allow a Norwegian freighter carrying 433 refugees to enter its waters, but sending a team of SAS operatives to storm the vessel. A damning UN probe concluded the administration had failed to meet its obligations to distressed mariners, under international law. Sources with intimate knowledge of the matter have informed The Grayzone that Vance Khan was among the special forces soldiers deployed.
The next year, five SAS operatives under Khan’s command killed 11 innocent civilians and wounded 16 more while conducting a coalition patrol in Afghanistan. The Australians also killed two villagers they wrongly believed to be insurgents, then took part in a pitched firefight that claimed nine civilian lives. One SAS soldier faced censure for taking the turban and gun of a slain Afghan as a souvenir. It appears no one faced consequences for the bloodshed, however.
From the Australian government’s perspective, the killings were arguably legitimate. Under the terms of Operation Slipper, the codename for Canberra’s Afghanistan mission, “incidental/collateral damage” was deemed acceptable, as long as it was not “excessive in relation to direct military advantage anticipated to be gained.” The next year, Australia’s military rewarded Khan for his actions with the Distinguished Service Cross, one of its highest honors.
Against this backdrop of unrestrained brutality, the Howard government secretly created 4 Squadron in 2005. Directly modeled off the notoriously abusive US special forces unit known as the Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, the Australian version merged covert intelligence gathering with military actions until it was publicly exposed in 2012. The disclosure of its existence may have been prompted by an internal government tussle over the deployment of SAS soldiers to Libya the previous year, during which they assisted the CIA and MI6 in toppling President Muammar Gaddafi.
Kevin Rudd, who was then Australia’s Foreign Minister, first floated the proposal for 4 Squadron to intervene in Libya. At the time, Rudd took an extremely belligerent stance on the conflict, suggesting Australian forces should participate in NATO attacks and cheering Gaddafi’s demise against the wishes of his own prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the country’s defense chief, David Hurley.
Sources have speculated that Canberra may have decided to “burn” 4 Squadron, and decisively torpedo the prospect of its Libyan adventure. The person who leaked information on the unit’s activities to the press has never been identified, let alone prosecuted, raising suspicions about their proximity to the highest levels of power.
Spying on Australians for ‘Five Eyes’?
The complaint by the NACC whistleblower also lists former Acting Special Operations Commander Daniel McDaniel among those implicated in Omni’s corruption. An investigation by local media revealed that in 2012, the unit under McDaniel’s command known as the Special Operations Task Group killed unarmed civilians during a raid targeting a suspected Taliban bombmaker in Afghanistan. An internal ADF probe concluded the dead were all combatants. However, a detailed investigation by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission found all those killed were innocent civilians.
Nonetheless, McDaniel was not only awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, but was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia – both rewards for his supposedly “exceptional service” in Afghanistan.
The overwhelming majority of Omni’s Australian government contracts relate to domestic security and intelligence gathering. At the same time, the company has actively sought recruits with “TSPV [top secret – positively vetted]” clearances. The positive security vetting process involves intensive investigation of an individual’s personal life, including their relationships, finances, associations, and mental health. Australians with TSPV clearance conduct some of the country’s most sensitive operations, and they have ready access to highly classified intelligence.
Omni’s website boasts that the company maintains a fleet of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, “fully equipped with advanced aerial surveillance equipment, including daylight and infra-red full motion video, augmented reality systems and contemporary technology to exploit the information environment.” These resources, they say, provide “real-time situational awareness through manned and unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.” Use of these aircraft is referenced in several of Omni’s government contracts — including one which explicitly states that Omni was selected “due to an absence of competition,” a dynamic that’s apparently maintained for “technical reasons.”
The scale and nature of Omni’s domestic spying activities are unknown. But it is almost certain that the vast intelligence yield is shared with the US-led ‘Five Eyes’ global spying network, of which Canberra is an eager participant. The arrangement is so secretive that the Australian public, and even its political leaders, were unaware of its existence until 1973 – 17 years after the country became a signatory.
According to veteran journalist Duncan Campbell, each Five Eyes member theoretically has the right to veto a request for signals intelligence collected by another member. However, Campbell explained, “when you’re a junior ally like Australia or New Zealand, you never refuse” — even in situations when there are concerns about what ostensible allies may do with that sensitive information.
The conviction of David McBride, a former Australian Defence Force lawyer, for leaking sensitive material about war crimes in Afghanistan, highlights the anxiety coursing through the Five Eyes national security complex. Evidence in McBride’s trial was withheld from his defense lawyers on the grounds it could jeopardize “the security and defence of Australia” if released. Now facing a lengthy prison sentence for his moral stand, the whistleblower’s prosecution appears intended as an example to others considering exposing the illicit activities their country engaged in on behalf of US imperial interests.
By contrast, those who participated in Washington’s crimes abroad have not only been treated with impunity; their abuses have been rewarded. Indeed, not a single individual implicated in the atrocities documented in McBride’s leaks has been in any way penalized for their conduct.
A 2020 investigation into war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan during the two-decade-long US-led occupation uncovered evidence that at least 39 civilians and detainees were murdered by the SAS. Yet, it absolved all implicated senior officers of any culpability. The probe was led by Retired Major General Paul Brereton. He is now Canberra’s National Anti-Corruption Commissioner.
Omni Executive was approached for comment, but did not respond.