What could possibly be worse than Soviet spies trying to bring down Australian society? How about Nazi war criminal Soviet spies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
An alarming report from the US Justice Department raised this prospect on this day in 1986. John Loftus, a Nazi-hunting lawyer, said a Menzies inquiry report tabled in Australian Parliament didn't go far enough in exposing former Nazis living here.
He was concerned many former Nazis were Soviet double agents, working on the orders of "renegade British spymaster Kim Philby" before his defection to the USSR.
"So Nazis in Australia may pose a clear and present danger to Australia's national security," he said.
The CIA had reportedly stopped him presenting his evidence of this claim to the inquiry into the entry of suspected war criminals into Australia.
Mr Loftus said, "It appears from the Menzies report that not only does the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation not know who the Nazis are, but they don't know which are communist agents pretending to be Nazis."
