DSD past & present
The war years
Albert Park Barracks
The origin of DSD lies in Australian involvement in the several Signals Intelligence (Sigint) organisations formed during the Second World War to support US and Australian forces in the Pacific theatre: the Central Bureau, the Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne (FRUMEL), the RAAF Wireless Units, and the Army's Australian Special Wireless Group. Both Australian and US personnel were integrated in Central Bureau, which was established in Melbourne early in 1942. Late in 1942 Central Bureau moved to Brisbane following MacArthur's Headquarters, and elements of the Bureau deployed with him to the Philippines later in the war.
The operations of the Australian Sigint units were gradually wound down after the war, and all archival material relating to their operations has been declassified for interested researchers.
The early incarnations
Victoria Barracks
Approval for the formation of a new peacetime signals intelligence organisation was given by the Australian Government on 23rd July 1946. This new Signals Intelligence Centre, to be located at Albert Park Barracks in Melbourne under the name of the Defence Signals Bureau (DSB) – the forerunner of DSD – began to take shape in late March 1947. Final Australian Government endorsement occurred on 12th November 1947. DSB's role was to exploit foreign communications and be responsible for communications security in the Australian Services and Government Departments. The organisation was retitled Defence Signals Branch in October 1949, a title it retained until January 1964 when it was renamed Defence Signals Division.
DSD's intelligence role was formally acknowledged in 1977 in the Prime Minister's statement to the House of Representatives on the Royal Commission into Intelligence and Security. Part of the outcome of the review was that the organisation was restyled the Defence Signals Directorate and made directly responsible to the Secretary of the Department of Defence. The new Directorate was approved by Cabinet on 13 July 1978, and in 1979 relocated from its long-term "temporary" accomodation in Albert Park to a new purpose-built facility in Melbourne's historic Victoria Barracks.
Moving to Canberra
Russell Complex
In June 1988 the Government decided that DSD should be relocated to Canberra to new facilities at the northern end of the Russell Defence complex. This was to enable DSD to establish a closer relationship with, and provide a better service to, its major customers – in the Defence organisation, including the ADF, other intelligence agencies, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The move was completed in two phases over the Christmas period 1991/92 and 1992/93.