Hundreds of Defence Department officials are being pressed to sign statutory declarations as part of a widening witch-hunt into the Joel Fitzgibbon affair.
Defence secretary Nick Warner has authorised the move which effectively means the Defence Department's investigative agency, the Defence Security Authority, is investigating itself.
Defence security officials tasked with finding the culprits behind an unauthorised covert inquiry into Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's private affairs have been asked to sign statutory declarations that it was not them.
The requirement for security officials to sign statutory declarations has angered staff, with some privately claiming the exercise was designed to bolster Mr Warner's claim last week that no ''element'' in his department had conducted any inquiry into Mr Fitzgibbon's affairs.
Mr Warner urged all Defence personnel to assist the inquiry which is being headed by the chief security officer and Defence Security Authority head Frank Roberts.
''If you have any knowledge of anyone in Defence accessing the minister's IT accounts, or in any other way attempting to collect information about the minister or his activities, I urge you to contact the Defence Security Authority to arrange to speak to an investigator, '' Mr Warner said in an email to all Defence staff.
Another Defence official confirmed that Defence Security Authority staff had been asked to sign statutory declarations to say that they had not inappropriately accessed Mr Fitzgibbon's computer or disclosed details about his friendship with wealthy Chinese-Australian businesswoman Helen Liu. Officials who refuse will be referred for interview by Mr Roberts.
It is also understood that the investigation will involve wide-ranging access to Defence Department phone records and IT systems.
Another Defence official said the inquiry was ''just a farce'' given that the Defence Security Authority was one of the areas of Defence most under suspicion.
''Talk about a conflict of interest, DSA is investigating itself,'' the official said. ''And meanwhile no one's looking at the issue that triggered it all, the minister's relationship with Ms Liu.''
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