# ASD The Australian Signals Directorate is Australia's signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cybersecurity agency — the Australian equivalent of the [[NSA]] and [[GCHQ]], and Australia's primary contribution to the [[Five Eyes Alliance]]. ASD intercepts foreign electronic communications, conducts offensive cyber operations, and provides cybersecurity guidance through the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). Within the Five Eyes division of labor, ASD's geographic responsibility covers South and East Asia and the Pacific — a region where Pine Gap, the joint US-Australian satellite ground station in central Australia, is one of the most important intelligence collection facilities in the southern hemisphere. ASD became a statutory agency in July 2018, gaining greater operational independence from the Department of Defence. ## See Also - [[ASIS]] — Australian human intelligence - [[NSA]] — US signals intelligence equivalent - [[Five Eyes Alliance]] — the intelligence-sharing framework - [[Global Intelligence Hub]] — full agency index