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Australian Secret Intelligence Service

The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS ) is the foreign intelligence agency of the Commonwealth of Australia, responsible for gathering, processing, and analysing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence. The service was formed in 1952, however its existence remained secret within much of the government and to the public until 1972. ASIS is a primary entity of the Australian Intelligence Community.

ASIS is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) portfolio and has its headquarters in Canberra. Its director-general, currently Kerri Hartland, reports to the minister for foreign affairs. The service is comparable to the CIA (US) and MI6 (UK).

History
On 13 May 1952, in a meeting of the Executive Council, Prime Minister Robert Menzies established ASIS by executive order under s. 61 of the Australian constitution, appointing Alfred Deakin Brookes as the first director-general of ASIS. The existence of ASIS remained secret even within the Australian Government until 1972.

Its Charter of 15 December 1954 described ASIS's role as 'to obtain and distribute secret intelligence, and to plan for and conduct special operations as may be required'. ASIS was expressly required to "operate outside Australian territory". A Ministerial Directive of 15 August 1958 indicated that its special operations role included conducting "special political action". It also indicated that the organisation would come under the control and supervision of the Minister for External Affairs rather than the Minister for Defence. At the time, ASIS was substantially modelled on the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6. ASIS was at one time referred to as MO9.

On 1 November 1972, the existence of ASIS was sensationally revealed by The Daily Telegraph which ran an exposé of recruitment of ASIS agents from Australian universities for espionage activities in Asia. Soon after The Australian Financial Review published a more in-depth piece on ASIS, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), and the then Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO), Defence Signals Division (DSD) and Office of National Assessments (ONA). It stated that "[t]he ASIS role is to collect and disseminate facts only. It is not supposed to be in the analytical or policy advising business though this is clearly difficult to avoid at times". The Ministerial Statement of 1977 stated that the "main function" of ASIS was to "obtain, by such means and subject to such conditions as are prescribed by the Government, foreign intelligence for the purpose of the protection or promotion of Australia or its interests".

On 21 August 1974, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam established the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (the first Hope Royal Commission, 1974–77) to investigate the country's intelligence agencies. On 25 October 1977, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser publicly announced the existence of ASIS and its functions on a recommendation of the Commission.

In 1992, two reports were prepared on ASIS by officers within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Office of National Assessments for the Secretaries Committee on Intelligence and Security (SCNS) and the National Security Committee (NSC). The Richardson Report in June examined the roles and relationships of the collection agencies (ASIO, ASIS and DSD) in the post-Cold War era. The Hollway Report in December examined shortfalls in Australia's foreign intelligence collection. Both reports endorsed the structure and roles of the organisations and commended the performance of ASIS.

The Intelligence Services Act 2001 (ISA) converted ASIS to a statutory body. The Act set out the functions of ASIS and the limits on those functions. Use of weapons by ASIS were prohibited (except for self-defence). Conduct of violent or para-military operations was also curtailed. The Act authorised the responsible minister to issue directions to the agency and required Ministerial authorisation for intelligence collection activities involving Australians, but limited the circumstances in which that could be done. The Act requires the responsible minister to make rules regulating the communication and retention of intelligence information concerning Australian persons, and provides for the establishment of a parliamentary oversight committee, then called the Parliamentary Joint Committee on ASIO, ASIS and DSD.

The Intelligence Services Amendment Act 2004 removed ISA prohibitions on ASIS operatives carrying firearms (but only for protection) and allows ASIS to work with foreign intelligence agencies such as the CIA or MI6 in the planning of paramilitary and violent operations provided ASIS is not involved in the execution of the operations.

Royal Commissions examining ASIS
Three Royal Commissions have examined, among other things, ASIS and its operations: in 1974 and 1983 (the Hope Royal Commissions), and in 1994 (the Samuels and Codd Royal Commission).

First Hope Royal Commission
On 21 August 1974, the Whitlam Government appointed Justice Robert Hope to conduct a Royal Commission into the structure of Australian security and intelligence services, the nature and scope of the intelligence required and the machinery for ministerial control, direction and coordination of the security services. The Hope Royal Commission delivered eight reports, four of which were tabled in Parliament on 5 May 1977 and 25 October 1977. Aside from the observation that ASIS was "singularly well run and well managed", the report(s) on ASIS were not released. Results from the other reports included the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979, the establishment of the ONA and the passage of the Office of National Assessments Act 1977.

Second Hope Royal Commission
On 17 May 1983, the Hawke Government reappointed Justice Hope to conduct a second Royal Commission into Australia's intelligence agencies. The inquiry was to examine progress in implementing the previous recommendations; arrangements for developing policies, assessing priorities and coordinating activities among the organisations; ministerial and parliamentary accountability; complaints procedures; financial oversight and the agencies' compliance with the law. As with the first Hope Royal Commission, the reports on ASIS and DSD, which included draft legislation on ASIS, were not made public.

Samuels and Codd Royal Commission
In response to a Four Corners TV program aired on 21 February 1994, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans announced on 23 February 1994 a "root and branch" review of ASIS. The Government appointed Justice Gordon Samuels and Mr Mike Codd to inquire into the effectiveness and suitability of existing arrangements for control and accountability, organisation and management, protection of sources and methods, and resolution of grievances and complaints. The Royal Commission reported in March 1995.

Four Corners reporter Ross Coulthart made allegations regarding intelligence held by ASIS on Australians. He claimed that "ASIS secretly holds tens of thousands of files on Australian citizens, a database completely outside privacy laws". The allegation was investigated and denied by Samuels and Codd (see below), but the Minister did acknowledge that ASIS maintained files. The Minister said: "ASIS does have some files, as one would expect in an organisation of that nature, even though its brief extends to activities outside the country rather than inside. They are essentially of an administrative nature." However, Samuels and Codd did find that certain grievances of the former officers were well founded. They appeared to support the officers' concerns regarding the grievance procedures:

"Bearing in mind the context in which the members of ASIS work, it is not surprising that there should develop a culture which sets great store by faithfulness and stoicism and tends to elevate conformity to undue heights and to regard the exercise of authority rather than consultation as the managerial norm."

However, Samuels and Codd observed that the information published in the Four Corners program was "skewed towards the false", that "the level of factual accuracy about operational matters was not high", and, quoting an aphorism, that "what was disturbing was not true and what was true was not disturbing". They concluded that the disclosure of the information was unnecessary and unjustifiable and had damaged the reputation of ASIS and Australia overseas. The commissioners stated that "evidence presented to us of action and reaction in other countries satisfies us that the publication was damaging": They rejected any suggestion that ASIS was unaccountable or "out of control". They said, "its operational management is well structured and its tactical decisions are thoroughly considered and, in major instances, subject to external approval". They recommended that complaints regarding ASIS operations continue to be handled by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) but that staff grievances be handled by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

In addition to their recommendations, Samuels and Codd put forward draft legislation to provide a statutory basis for ASIS and to protect various information from disclosure. The Samuels and Codd Bill, like the bulk of the reports, was not made public.

Activities
Since 2004, ASIS has been running anti-people smuggling operations inside countries such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

In 2013, intelligence provided by ASIS was crucial to the capture, after a 14-month manhunt, of a rogue soldier from the Afghan National Army, who had killed three Australian soldiers. The joint operation involved ASIS, AGO, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and Australian Signals Directorate, along with Britain's MI6 and Special Air Service, the United States' CIA and National Security Agency, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.

In 2021, ASIS had deployed a small team to provide security and to help with the evacuation of Australian nationals and the nation's informants during the Kabul airlift in Afghanistan.

ASIS in Chile 1973
An ASIS station was established in Chile out of the Australian embassy in July 1971 at the request of the CIA and authorised by then Liberal Party Foreign Minister William McMahon. New Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was informed of the operation in February 1973 and signed a document ordering the closure of the operation several weeks later. On 1 July 1973, the ASIS station in Chile reported that it had shut down and destroyed all records. However, the last ASIS agent did not leave Chile until October 1973, one month after the CIA-backed 1973 Chilean coup d'état had brought down the Allende government. Two officers of ASIO were also based in Santiago, working as migration officers during this period. The incident was one of two that caused a confrontation between Whitlam and Bill Robertson, the director-general of ASIS, which culminated in Robertson's sacking on 21 October 1975, with effect from 7 November, just four days before Whitlam's own dismissal in the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Whitlam said Robertson had disobeyed instructions by delaying the closure of the ASIS station in Chile in 1973 and not informing Whitlam that ASIS had an active agent in East Timor in 1975. Robertson disputed the details in a personal statement lodged with the National Archives in 2009.

ASIS's involvement in Chile was revealed in 1974 when Whitlam set up the First Hope Royal Commission to investigate Australia's security services. Whitlam told parliament that "when my government took office, Australian intelligence personnel were working as proxies of the CIA in destabilising the government of Chile". After the coup by Augusto Pinochet, Whitlam's government created a special program for Chilean refugees to come to Australia. Under the program, about 6,000 Chileans came to Australia between 1974 and 1981 and hundreds more joined them as part of a family reunion program.

The National Archives of Australia holds documents related to ASIS operations to help the CIA undermine the government of Allende in the years 1971-1974. In 2021, the archives refused a request from Clinton Fernandes, professor of International and Political Studies at the University of New South Wales, to access records relating to ASIS operations in Chile. Heavily redacted versions of some documents were released to Fernandes in June 2021. The documents show that the ASIS base in Chile assisted the CIA's destabilisation of Allende's government by handling CIA-recruited Chilean assets and filing intelligence reports to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. In November 2021, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) upheld the decision to reject Fernandes's request for access to the documents. The AAT said the release of documents would "cause damage to the security, defence or international relations of the Commonwealth". Most of the AAT hearing was held behind closed doors, because Attorney-General Michaelia Cash issued a public interest certificate, suppressing the disclosure of evidence provided by ASIS, ASIO and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The Favaro affair
During the lead-up to Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, ASIS paid a Dili-based Australian businessman, Frank Favaro, for information on local political developments. The leaking of his identity in late 1975 was another factor in the confrontation between Whitlam and Robertson. Bill Robertson disputed the reason for his dismissal in documents lodged with the National Archives in 2009.

The Sheraton Hotel incident
On 30 November 1983, ASIS garnered unwanted negative attention when a training operation held at the Sheraton Hotel, now the Mercure (Spring Street), in Melbourne went wrong. The exercise was to be a mock surveillance and hostage rescue of foreign intelligence officers. In March 1983, ASIS had begun training a covert team of civilians at Swan Island in Victoria whose role was to protect or release Australians who may be threatened or captured by terrorists overseas. The military in 1981 had established a counter-terrorist unit for operations only in Australia. The personnel involved in the training operation included ten operators, four ASIS officers and six ASIS civilian trainees, and two commandos from the Army Reserve 1st Commando Regiment with a sergeant participating as an observer in the hotel foyer.

The training operation involved junior officers who had undergone three weeks' prior training and who were given considerable leeway in planning and executing the operation. The mock hostage rescue was staged on the 10th floor of the hotel without the permission of the hotel's owner or staff. When ASIS operators were refused entry into a hotel room, they broke down the door with sledgehammers. The hotel manager, Nick Rice, was notified of a disturbance on the 10th floor by a hotel guest. When he went to investigate, he was forced back into the lift by an ASIS operator who rode the lift down to the ground floor and forcibly ejected Rice into the lobby. Believing a robbery was in progress, Rice called the police. When the lift started returning to the ground floor, ASIS operators emerged wearing masks and openly brandishing 9mm Browning pistols and Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns, two of them with silencers. They forced their way through the lobby to the kitchen, where two getaway cars were waiting outside the kitchen door. Police stopped one of the cars and arrested the occupants – two ASIS officers and three ASIS civilian trainees – who refused to produce any form of identification.

Within two days, the minister for foreign affairs, Bill Hayden announced that an "immediate and full" investigation would be conducted under the auspices of the second Hope Royal Commission, which was still in progress. A report was prepared and tabled by February 1984. It described the exercise as being "poorly planned, poorly supervised and poorly run", and recommended that measures be taken in training to improve planning and eliminate adverse impacts on the public.

Victoria Police conducted their own investigation but were frustrated because ASIS Director-General John Ryan refused to cooperate. Bill Hayden offered to provide the real names of the seven officers involved, in confidence. Premier of Victoria John Cain told Hayden that "as far as the police were concerned, there was no such thing as information in confidence".

Following the incident, The Sunday Age disclosed the names, or the assumed names, of five of the operators involved. The journalist noted that "according to legal advice taken by The Sunday Age there is no provision that prevents the naming of an ASIS agent". Although not included within the public version of the report, the Hope Royal Commission prepared an appendix that would appear to have dealt with the security and foreign relations consequences of The Sunday Age's disclosure of participants' names. Subsequently, in A v Hayden, the High Court held that the Commonwealth owed no enforceable duty to ASIS officers to maintain confidentiality of their names or activities.

At the time of the Sheraton Hotel incident, the extant Ministerial Directive permitted ASIS to undertake "covert action", including "special operations" which, roughly described, comprised "unorthodox, possibly para-military activity, designed to be used in case of war or some other crisis". Following the incident and the recommendations of the Royal Commission, the covert action function was apparently abolished. The functions of ASIS can be found in section 6 of the Intelligence Services Act, as can those functions which are proscribed by the act.

Ultimately, in executing the operation, the operators were found to have used considerable force, menacing a number of the staff and guests with weapons and physically assaulting the hotel manager. Hope found Ryan to be at fault for authorising the training operation in a public place using concealed weapons. Ryan resigned in February 1984. Hope said it was not part of his terms of reference to make findings or recommendations on whether any individual had committed any offence. However, he did note that the individuals could potentially be prosecuted by the State of Victoria with a long list of criminal offences, including possession of firearms without a licence, possession of prohibited implements (including machine guns, silencers and housebreaking tools), aggravated burglary in possession of a firearm, common assault, wilful damage to property, possession of a disguise without lawful excuse and numerous motor vehicle offences. More than a year after the raid, the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions concluded that while certain offences had been committed, including criminal damage and assault with a weapon, there was insufficient evidence to charge any person with a specific offence.

Victorian Holdings Ltd, the company managing the hotel, subsequently took legal action against the Commonwealth on behalf of itself and 14 hotel staff. The matter was settled out of court; the hotel was offered $300,000 in damages. The total payout to the hotel and staff was $365,400.

Involvement in Papua New Guinea
Between 1989 and 1991, ASIS came under scrutiny following allegations relating to its role and activities in Papua New Guinea. It was alleged that ASIS had been involved in training Papua New Guinean troops to suppress independence movements in Irian Jaya and Bougainville. In 1997 it was alleged that ASIS and DSD had failed to collect, or the Government had failed to act upon, intelligence regarding the role and presence of Sandline contractors in relation to the independence movement in Bougainville.

Four Corners program
Towards the end of 1993, ASIS became the subject of media attention after allegations were made by former ASIS officers that ASIS was unaccountable and out of control. The Sunday Telegraph alleged that "ASIS regularly flouted laws, kept dossiers on Australian citizens ... and hounded agents out of the service with little explanation". In particular, it alleged that agents were being targeted in a purge by being threatened with criminal charges relating to their official conduct, reflecting a pattern which suggested to some that ASIS or a senior ASIS officer had been "turned" by a foreign intelligence service.

On 21 February 1994, Four Corners ran a program which aired the key allegations. Two former ASIS officers made claims regarding cultural and operational tensions between ASIS and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They claimed that embassy staff had maliciously or negligently compromised activities involving the running of foreign informants and agents and the defection of foreign agents to Australia. They claimed that their grievances had been ignored and that they were "deserted in the field" and made scapegoats by ASIS. The officers and the reporter, Ross Coulthart, also made claims regarding operational activities and priorities: the officers claimed that ASIS advice had been ignored by DFAT and the reporter repeated claims regarding ASIS operations aimed at destabilising the Aquino Government in the Philippines. He also made claims regarding ASIS assistance to MI6 in the Falklands War, in Hong Kong and in Kuwait for the benefit of British interests, including commercial interests, and potentially to the detriment of Australian national interests. The bulk of the personal statements by the officers concerned their private grievances. They raised two issues of public interest regarding the effect of secrecy on the operation of grievance procedures and the extent to which the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade was aware of or in control of ASIS operations. The reporter directly raised the issue of the appropriateness of ASIS operations, particularly with respect to priority setting in overseas postings and operations, cooperation with foreign intelligence services, and the privacy of Australian persons and organisations. By implication, the program queried the extent to which ASIS was or should be accountable to the Minister, to Government and to Parliament.

The following day, the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs called for an independent judicial inquiry into the allegations. He expressed particular concern about the nature of ASIS cooperation with foreign agencies and the defects in ASIS grievance procedures. He later called for the inquiry to examine the "poisoned relationship between ASIS and DFAT". A Democrats spokesperson called for a standing parliamentary committee.

Two days after the program aired, the Samuels and Codd Royal Commission was convened by Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans.

Ratih Hardjono, Bruce Grant and Gareth Evans
On 19 February 2000, Singapore journalist Susan Sim accused Ratih Harjono of working for her uncle, a senior BAKIN (Indonesian intelligence service) intelligence officer while working for the President of Indonesia. Earlier in her career as a journalist, Ratih was married to Bruce Grant, who during this period was senior policy adviser to Gareth Evans, co-authoring the book, Australia's foreign relations: in the world of the 1990s. Gareth Evans was responsible for ASIS from 1988 to 1996.

Alleged management and staffing problems
In 2005, The Bulletin ran an article based on allegations by serving ASIS officers that alluded to gross mismanagement of intelligence operations, staff assignments, and taskings, particularly with respect to the war on terrorism. The unnamed officers pointed out various problems within the agency that were plaguing the organisation's ability to collect vital and timely intelligence. By this, they meant the recruitment of "...young mostly white university educated agents with limited language skills and little knowledge of Islam against poor, zealous extremists intent on becoming suicide bombers", the "inappropriate" assignment of "...young female IOs [intelligence officers] against Islamic targets...", in addition to poor staff retention rates, and general lack of officers possessing significant practical field experience. The officers also cited a lack of proper support given to intelligence officers tasked against terrorist targets, and the doctoring of intelligence by ASIS management, as also contributing to the lack of progress of the agency in the war on terrorism.

Australia–East Timor spying scandal
It was revealed in 2013 that ASIS planted devices to listen to the East Timorese government during negotiations over the Greater Sunrise oil and gasfields.

Credit
A large portion of the history of ASIS in this article was adapted from the Parliament of Australia Bills Digest No. 11 of 2001–02 of Intelligence Services Act 2001.

title: Australian Secret Intelligence Service


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Australian Signals Directorate

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), formerly the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), is the federal statutory agency in the Australian Government responsible for foreign signals intelligence, support to military operations, cyber warfare, and information security. ASD is part of the Australian Intelligence Community. ASD's role within UKUSA Agreement (Five Eyes) is to monitor signals intelligence ("SIGINT") in South and East Asia. The ASD also houses the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

The unit was established in 1947 by executive order as the Defence Signals Bureau within the Department of Defence, and underwent several name changes until its current name ASD was adopted in 2013. ASD was converted to a statutory body by the Intelligence Services Act 2001. ASD is based in Canberra, at the Defence Department Headquarters at Russell Offices. As of February 2020, Rachel Noble is the Director-General of ASD, replacing Mike Burgess, who was appointed Director-General of Security in September 2019.

In April 2018, a proposal to empower ASD to collect intelligence on Australians was backed by former Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton, but was strongly opposed by some in Cabinet who argued it was not necessary. Under legislation, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are already allowed to seek assistance from ASD in conducting investigations on Australian citizens and businesses.

History
The Directorate has operated under a number of different names since its founding:

 * 1947 – Defence Signals Bureau established within the Department of Defence
 * 1949 – name changed to Defence Signals Branch
 * 1964 – name changed to Defence Signals Division
 * 1977 – name changed to Defence Signals Directorate on recommendation of the Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security (Hope Commission)
 * 2013 – name changed to Australian Signals Directorate

ASD commissioned an official history in 2019, which will cover the organisation's history from its establishment to 2001.

Roles and responsibilities
The principal functions of ASD are to collect and disseminate foreign signals intelligence (SIGINT) and to provide information security products and services to the Australian Government and Australian Defence Force (ADF), its foreign partners and militaries.

ASD operates at least three receiving stations:
 * the Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS), located at Kojarena, near Geraldton, Western Australia,
 * the Shoal Bay Receiving Station, located at Shoal Bay, Northern Territory, and
 * a small station on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

ASD also maintains a workforce at Pine Gap in central Australia.

ADSCS and Shoal Bay are part of the United States signals intelligence and ECHELON analysis network. These stations also contribute signals intelligence for many Australian Government bodies, as well as the other UKUSA partners.

Electronic warfare operators in the Royal Australian Corps of Signals work closely with ASD. 7 Signal Regiment (Electronic Warfare) at Borneo Barracks,, Queensland is also associated with ASD..

In addition, it has been reported that many Australian embassies and overseas missions also house small facilities which provide a flow of signals intelligence to ASD.

UKUSA Agreement (Five Eyes)
Australia joined the UKUSA Agreement in 1948, a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The alliance is also known as the Five Eyes. Other countries, known as "third parties", such as West Germany, the Philippines, and several Nordic countries also joined the UKUSA community. As the Agreement was a secret treaty, its existence was not even disclosed to the Australian Prime Minister until 1973, when Gough Whitlam insisted on seeing it. The existence of the UKUSA Agreement was discovered by the Australian government during the 1973 Murphy raids on the headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). After learning about the agreement, Whitlam discovered that Pine Gap, a secret surveillance station close to Alice Springs, Australia, had been operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Pine Gap is now operated jointly by both Australia and the United States.

The existence of the Agreement was not disclosed to the public until 2005. On 25 June 2010, for the first time, the full text of the agreement was publicly released by the United Kingdom and the United States, and can now be viewed online. Under the agreement, ASD's intelligence is shared with UKUSA signals intelligence partner agencies:
 * the National Security Agency (NSA) – United States,
 * the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – United Kingdom,
 * the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) – Canada, and
 * the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) – New Zealand.

Organisational structure
The Australian Signals Directorate is led by a Director-General and a Principal Deputy Director-General who oversee strategy. The ASD also comprises the Australian Cyber Security Centre, a Signals Intelligence and Network Operations Group, and a Corporate and Capability Group.

SIGINT and Network Operations Group
The Signals Intelligence and Network Operations Group is responsible for signals intelligence collection, analysis and production, and ASD's network based access and effects operations. The Group comprises an Intelligence Division and a Network Operations and Access Division responsible for foreign signals intelligence and offensive cyber operations.

Defence SIGINT and Cyber Command
The Defence Signals-Intelligence (SIGINT) and Cyber Command (DSCC) was established in January 2018 by the Chief of the Defence Force consolidating all ADF personnel within the ASD within the Joint Cyber Unit and Joint SIGINT Unit. The Commander of the DSCC is responsible to the Head of Information Warfare under the Chief of Joint Capabilities to the Chief of the Defence Force. The Commander is currently Commodore James McCormack of the Royal Australian Navy who was previously the Director-General for Support to Military Operations within the Australian Signals Directorate.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Australian Signals Directorate


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Darkthrone

Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leading bands in the Norwegian black metal scene.

Their first three black metal albums — A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992), Under a Funeral Moon (1993) and Transilvanian Hunger (1994) — are often dubbed the "Unholy Trinity". They are considered the peak of the band's career and to be among the most influential albums in black metal.

Darkthrone has been a duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto since guitarist Zephyrous left the band in 1993. They have sought to remain outside the music mainstream, but have in later years collaborated with the National Library of Norway for exhibitions about Norwegian culture history and black metal. From 2006, Darkthrone's music strayed from the traditional black metal style and incorporated more elements of traditional heavy metal, punk, and speed metal, while more recent albums have also included doom metal.

Death metal years: 1986–1991
The band that would become Darkthrone formed in late 1986 in Kolbotn, a small town south of Oslo. They were a death metal band by the name of Black Death whose members were Gylve Nagell, Ivar Enger and Anders Risberget. Their main inspirations were Autopsy, Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Slayer and Nocturnus. In late 1987, the band changed their name to Darkthrone and were joined by Dag Nilsen. Ted Skjellum joined in spring of 1988. During 1988 and 1989, the band independently released four demo tapes: Land of Frost, A New Dimension, Thulcandra, and Cromlech.

They were subsequently signed to the independent record label Peaceville Records with a four-album contract. In 1990, they recorded their first studio album, Soulside Journey. Because of a small recording budget, the band could not afford the kind of studio they wanted but, thanks to the members of Nihilist and Entombed, they were able to record their album at Sunlight Studios. Although mainly death metal in style, there were some elements of black metal present in terms of artwork and songwriting.

Immediately following the release of this album, the band continued writing and recording new material, recording on tape until a full album was ready. These tracks were entirely instrumental but they demonstrated the band's gradual shift towards black metal. In 1996, the finished album Goatlord was released, with vocals added by Fenriz.

Early black metal years: 1991–1994

During 1991 under the influence of Euronymous of Mayhem, Darkthrone adopted the aesthetic style that would come to represent the black metal scene, wearing corpse paint and working under pseudonyms. Gylve Nagell became "Fenriz", Ted Skjellum became "Nocturno Culto" and Ivar Enger became "Zephyrous". In August 1991, they recorded their second album, which was released at the beginning of 1992 and titled A Blaze in the Northern Sky. The album contained Darkthrone's first black metal recordings, and Peaceville Records was originally skeptical about releasing it due to Darkthrone's extreme diversion from their original death metal style. After the album was recorded, bassist Dag Nilsen left the band, as he didn't want to play black metal, and is merely credited as "session bass" with no picture on the album.

The band's third album, Under a Funeral Moon, was recorded in the summer of 1992 and released in early 1993. It marked Darkthrone's total conversion to the black metal style, and is considered a landmark for the development of the genre as a whole. This album also marked the last album on which guitarist Zephyrous would perform.

It was followed by their fourth album, Transilvanian Hunger, which was released in February 1994. This was Darkthrone's first album to have just two members, Nocturno Culto and Fenriz. Fenriz is credited with all instrumentation and songwriting, while Nocturno Culto only contributed vocals. The band would remain a duo from this point onwards. Transilvanian Hunger was characterized by a very "raw" or "low fidelity" recording style and monotone riffing with little melody. The album's release caused some controversy: half of its lyrics were written by the Norwegian black metal musician Varg Vikernes, and its booklet contained the phrase "Norsk Arisk Black Metal", which translates into English as "Norwegian Aryan Black Metal".

With Moonfog Records: 1995–2004
Darkthrone moved to another independent record label, Moonfog Productions, for subsequent releases. The label was run by Satyr of Satyricon.

Their fifth album, Panzerfaust, was released in 1995. Its production is similar to that of Transilvanian Hunger, and Fenriz is similarly credited with all instrumentation and songwriting, while Nocturno Culto only contributed vocals. Lyrics for the track "Quintessence" were written by Varg Vikernes. Their sixth album, Total Death, was released during 1996 and is notable for featuring lyrics written by four other black metal musicians, and none at all written by the group's main lyricist Fenriz.

During the years 1993–1995, drummer Fenriz was involved with numerous side projects. This included his solo dark ambient project Neptune Towers, his solo folk black metal project Isengard, recording an album with Satyr as the trio Storm, and playing bass on Dødheimsgard's debut album. Also he began playing drums for Valhall again, after having been one of the founding members in 1988 but leaving in 1990 to concentrate on Darkthrone.

On 6 April 1996 on Easter Eve, Darkthrone played their last live gig ever at the "A Night of Unholy Black Metal" in a sold out Rockefeller in Oslo. The Norwegian black metal band Satyricon happened to play their first big gig at the same event, and this marks a very special event in the history of norwegian black metal.

In 1999, Darkthrone released the album Ravishing Grimness, and in 2001 their following album, Plaguewielder. While Transilvanian Hunger and Panzerfaust had songs written solely by Fenriz, these two albums had songs almost entirely written by Nocturno Culto and were both recorded in Ronny Le Tekrøe's studio at Toten, Norway. This explains the somewhat "clearer" sound on those records.

In the last years of the 1990s, two Darkthrone tribute albums were released: Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone in 1998 and The Next Thousand Years Are Ours in 1999. The band also released Preparing for War, a compilation of songs from 1988–1994. In 2002, the intro of their song "Kathaarian Life Code" appeared in the last scene of the film Demonlover.

In 2003, the band released the album Hate Them. Although this record and their next contain electronic introductions, they remain true to Darkthrone's early black metal style. Sardonic Wrath was released in 2004. It was the band's last album with Moonfog Productions and their last to be recorded solely in the black metal style. This album was nominated for Norway's Alarm Awards; however, the album's entry was withdrawn at the band's request. Their next releases would feature strong crust punk traits.

Punk-influenced years: 2005–2010
In 2005, Darkthrone confirmed that they had returned to Peaceville Records, after leaving the record label in 1994. They had also started up their own record label, Tyrant Syndicate Productions, to release their future albums. To celebrate their return, Peaceville re-issued the Preparing for War compilation with a bonus CD of demos and a DVD of live performances. Darkthrone's first four albums were also re-released with video interviews about each of them.

In January 2006, the group released the EP Too Old, Too Cold, which contains the track "High on Cold War", performed by Enslaved's vocalist Grutle Kjellson. The EP also included a cover of the song "Love in a Void" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. For the first time in their career, the band shot a music video for the EP's title track.  Too Old, Too Cold  also became Darkthrone's first record to hit the charts and reached the top 15 of the best-selling singles in Norway and Denmark. Darkthrone released their eleventh album, The Cult Is Alive, the same year. The album represented a shift in the band's style as the music incorporated crust punk traits. While Darkthrone's black metal roots were still evident, their shift from the genre's typical sound was more noticeable. The Cult Is Alive was the first Darkthrone album to appear on the album chart in Norway, debuting at number 22.

In July 2007, the band released the EP NWOBHM (an acronym for 'New wave of black heavy metal', a take-off on the original 'New wave of British heavy metal') as a preview for their next album. In September that year, Darkthrone released the album F.O.A.D. (an acronym for Fuck Off and Die). The phrase was used by many thrash metal and punk bands during the 1980s. While the music partially continued the punk-oriented style that was introduced on The Cult Is Alive, this time the band focused more on traditional heavy metal.

Also during 2007, Nocturno Culto completed and released The Misanthrope, a film about black metal and life in Norway. It includes some of his own solo recordings. In October 2008, Dark Thrones and Black Flags was released, using much the same style as the previous album. In 2010, the band released the album Circle the Wagons, which featured much less significant crust punk traits in exchange for strong speed metal and traditional heavy metal characteristics.

2010 to present
In late 2010, Peaceville acquired the rights to the band's Moonfog albums and re-issued Panzerfaust as a two-disc set and on vinyl. The re-issue of Total Death was set for 14 March 2011. In July 2012, Darkthrone announced a new album, titled The Underground Resistance; it was released on 25 February 2013. That album saw the band completely shift away from black metal and blackened crust and is musically a throwback to classic heavy metal and speed metal. The band released their 16th studio album, titled Arctic Thunder, on 14 October 2016, it represented another drastic musical shift for the band, with the album featuring a rawer, more blackened sound, reminiscent of their 90's output but with the classic metal leanings of the previous record.

On 22 October 2016, the band revealed via Facebook that they would be issuing a compilation album entitled The Wind of 666 Black Hearts. The album, released 25 November 2016, is composed of rehearsals recorded in 1991 and 1992 for songs which later appeared on A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon.

Darkthrone announced in March 2019 that they would be releasing their seventeenth studio album, Old Star, which was released on 31 May of the same year. It featured much stronger doom metal characteristics than previous albums, with their Candlemass influences more apparent. The band announced that they had completed the recording of a new album in January 2021. In April 2021, a box set was unveiled containing early and rare material entitled Shadows of Iconoclasm. The band's eighteenth studio album Eternal Hails...... was released on 25 June 2021, through Peaceville Records on physical media and digital platforms. Musically, the album is a continuation of the band's incorporation of traditional doom metal, strongly influenced by Candlemass from the previous record, with heavy inspiration from other bands like Trouble and Black Sabbath. The band's nineteenth album, Astral Fortress, was released on the 28th of October 2022. The band′s twentieth album, It Beckons Us All....... was released on the 26th of April 2024. It was recorded in April and May of 2023 at Chaka Khan Studio in Oslo.

Band members
Current
 * Fenriz (Gylve Fenris Nagell) – drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, vocals, lyrics (1986–present)
 * Nocturno Culto (Ted Skjellum) – vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, lyrics (1988–present)

Former
 * Dag Nilsen – bass (1988–1991)
 * Zephyrous (Ivar Enger) – guitars (1987–1993)
 * Anders Risberget – guitars (1986–1988)

Timeline

Demos

 * 1988 – Land of Frost
 * 1988 – A New Dimension - rehearsal demo
 * 1989 – Thulcandra
 * 1989 – Cromlech - live demo

EPs and singles

 * 2005 – Under Beskyttelse av Mørke (Under Cover of Darkness) – outtakes from the Under a Funeral Moon rehearsal sessions; released only in Japan.
 * 2006 – Too Old, Too Cold – outtakes from The Cult Is Alive recording sessions.
 * 2006 – Forebyggende Krig – single.
 * 2007 – NWOBHM – outtakes from the F.O.A.D. recording sessions.
 * 2013 – Leave No Cross Unturned (Edit) – single
 * 2017 – Burial Bliss / Visual Aggression – single
 * 2019 – The Hardship of the Scots – single
 * 2021 – Hate Cloak – single

Compilations and tribute albums

 * 1998 – Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone – tribute album featuring eight Norwegian bands
 * 1999 – The Next Thousand Years Are Ours – tribute album featuring fourteen bands and a multimedia disc
 * 2000 – Preparing for War – compilation of songs from 1988–1994; re-released in 2005 with a bonus CD of demos and a DVD
 * 2008 – Frostland Tapes – compilation containing the band's early demos (Land of Frost, A New Dimension, Thulcandra, Cromlech), the original instrumental version of Goatlord, and a recording of a concert in Denmark
 * 2011 – Sempiternal Past – The Darkthrone Demos – re-mastered versions of Darkthrone's demos (including bonus tracks)
 * 2013 – Introducing Darkthrone – eighteen song album containing Darkthrone songs from past albums and singles
 * 2013 – Peaceville Presents... Darkthrone
 * 2014 – Black Death and Beyond - compilation released as a vinyl box set and book
 * 2016 – The Wind of 666 Black Hearts - compilation of demos from 1991 and 1992
 * 2021 – Shadows of Iconoclasm - compilation boxset of early material

title: Darkthrone


text:
User:Grouse

Useful stuff
Fun fact: my Wikipedia internal ID number is 222.

title: User:Grouse


text:
Burzum

Burzum is a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a staple of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black metal's history. However, Vikernes' music is also widely considered controversial due to his conviction for murder and arson, along with his history of publicly espousing neo-Nazi and white nationalist views. Vikernes has also released five dark ambient and neofolk albums. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the Black Speech, a fictional language crafted by The Lord of the Rings writer J. R. R. Tolkien. Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology.

Vikernes founded Burzum in 1991 and recorded the first four Burzum albums between January 1992 and March 1993. From 1994 to 2009, Vikernes was imprisoned for the murder of Mayhem guitarist Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth and the arson of three churches. While imprisoned, he recorded two dark ambient albums using only synthesizers, as he had no access to drums, guitar, or bass. Since his release from prison in 2009, he has recorded several more albums. Vikernes announced the end of Burzum in 2018, but in 2024 he announced work on a new album.

Early years (1988–1992)
Varg Vikernes began making music in 1988 with the band Kalashnikov. The following year, the name was changed to Uruk-Hai, after the creatures from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. In 1990 and 1991, Vikernes played guitar for the death metal band Old Funeral, which also consisted of members who would later form the band Immortal. He appears on the Old Funeral EP Devoured Carcass. Vikernes left Old Funeral in 1991 to concentrate on creating his own musical visions. He had a short-lived project called Satanel, along with Abbath Doom Occulta. He then began a solo project under the name Burzum. The word "burzum" means "darkness" in the Black Speech, a language crafted by Tolkien. Soon after recording two demo tapes, he became part of the Norwegian black metal scene. With his demo tapes, he had attracted attention from Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth of Mayhem, who had just recently formed Deathlike Silence Productions. Aarseth then signed Burzum to the label, and shortly after, Vikernes―under the pseudonym of Count Grishnackh (another name adapted from The Lord of the Rings)―began to record Burzum's self-titled debut album. According to Vikernes' autobiography on his website, he had intended to record the album in the worst recording quality possible (due to this being a typical trademark of the early Norwegian black metal scene), while still making it sound acceptable. Burzum's eponymous debut album was released in 1992, being the second album released on Deathlike Silence Productions. The song "War" from this album had a guest appearance from Euronymous, playing a guitar solo "just for fun", according to Vikernes.

Vikernes has stated that he had never played any live shows with Burzum, though at one point was interested in it, so Samoth of Emperor accompanied him as a session bassist, though only appearing on the Aske EP. Additionally, Erik Lancelot was hired to be the band's drummer, though did not record on any Burzum material, and along with Samoth did not play a live show. Vikernes had by then lost his interest in playing live concerts, and stated that he "didn't even need session musicians anymore". Therefore, Samoth and Lancelot had parted ways with Burzum. Det som engang var was released as Burzum's second album in 1993, recorded in 1992.

Imprisonment (1993–2009)
May 1994 saw the release of Hvis lyset tar oss, a new album of previously recorded material from 1992. Burzum remained as a solo project until 1994, when Vikernes was arrested for the murder of Euronymous and the burnings of several churches in Norway. During his time in prison, Vikernes released his next album, titled Filosofem, on 1 January 1996. Recorded in March 1993, Filosofem was the last recording Vikernes made before his imprisonment. Burzum / Aske, a compilation comprising the Burzum album and Aske EP, was released in 1995. While imprisoned, Vikernes managed to record two other albums in a dark ambient style. They were released as Dauði Baldrs (1997) and Hliðskjálf (1999). Both of these albums were created with a synthesizer, as Vikernes was prohibited from using any other instruments in prison.

In 1998, all Burzum albums released up to that point were re-released as vinyl picture discs in a special box set called 1992–1997; however Filosofem did not contain "Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte" due to its length. The regular vinyl issue of Filosofem on Misanthropy had tracks 1–4 plus "Decrepitude II" on side 1 and "Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte" on side 2.

Post-imprisonment and retirement (2009–2020)
Soon after being released, Vikernes started writing new tracks (nine metal tracks and an ambient intro and outro) for an upcoming Burzum album. According to Vikernes' recounts, several record companies were interested in releasing his first album in eleven years. He stated about the new album, "I want to take my time, and make it the way I want it. It will be metal, and the fans can expect genuine Burzum."

The album was going to be originally titled Den hvite guden (The White God), but he later decided to change it to Belus, which was released by the independent record label Byelobog Productions (byelobog is the transliteration of "белобог" in Slavic languages, meaning 'white god', Belobog) on 8 March 2010. It was also announced that a movie would be released in 2010, based on Varg Vikernes' life in the early 1990s. The movie would mainly draw inspiration from the book Lords of Chaos, with the film being of the same name. Vikernes expressed his contempt towards both the movie and the book upon which it is based.

A second new album of original Burzum material, Fallen, was released on 7 March 2011, followed by a compilation album, From the Depths of Darkness, containing re-recordings of tracks from Burzum's self-titled album and Det som engang var, on 28 November 2011. A third new studio album of original material, titled Umskiptar, was released in May 2012. Sôl austan, Mâni vestan ("East of the Sun, West of the Moon"), Burzum's first electronic album since 1999, was released in May 2013. On 27 April 2013, a song was posted on the official YouTube channel of Vikernes, titled "Back to the Shadows". In a blog post, Vikernes stated that "Back to the Shadows" would be the last metal track released by Burzum. Another album, The Ways of Yore, was released in June 2014.

After a period of inactivity, Vikernes posted a video on his YouTube account in June 2018 announcing that "[he had] moved on [from Burzum]", saying "bye bye" to the project.

In July 2018, a YouTube user named Hermann posted unreleased materials of Uruk-Hai from 1988 to 1990 and Burzum's Bergen prison recordings from 1994, which he received from Tiziana Stupia.

In October 2019, Vikernes posted a tweet saying he intended to release another album as Burzum. He announced that the tentative name of the album would be Thulêan Mysteries, which would have 23 songs. The tracks from the album were previously used as background music on Vikernes' YouTube channel, which was taken down the same year. Vikernes also said that the music of Thulêan Mysteries is meant to be used as a background soundtrack for his MYFAROG role-playing game. On 18 December, Vikernes tweeted the album cover for Thulêan Mysteries and announced its release date as 13 March 2020. Vikernes has stated it would be Burzum's last album at the time.

"Burzum (NEW)" (2023–present)
On 8 September 2023, Vikernes released a new song under the name "Burzum (NEW)" called "The Reincarnation of Ódinn". In April 2024, Vikernes announced the return of the project on his X account, with a new album titled "The Land of Thulê". It is the first metal album since Umskiptar. From late April to May 2024 Vikernes has released "The Magic of the Grave".

Musical style
Burzum's music includes both straightforward black metal as well as dark ambient, neofolk and neo-medieval music. It is often minimalist and dark, with repetition and simple song structures. Vikernes has described Burzum as a kind of "spell" or recreation of an imaginary world tied in with Pagan history. Each album, he claims, was designed as a kind of "spell" in itself, with each beginning song intending to make the listener more susceptible to "magic", the following songs to inspire a "trance-like state of mind", and the last song to carry the listener into a "world of fantasy" (dreams, for the listener would fall asleep—Burzum was supposed to have been evening music). Vikernes claims the intent to create this fantasy world came from dissatisfaction with the real world. He has stated the "message" of Burzum can be found in the lyrics of the first song of the first album ("Feeble Screams from Forests Unknown").

Burzum's lyrics and imagery are often inspired by fantasy and Norse mythology, and do not feature the far-right political views for which Vikernes is known. In a 2010 interview, Vikernes said: "Burzum is not a political or religious band, or even an anti-religious band. Burzum is music; art if you like, and the interpretation of art lies in the eye of the beholder. I might be Nordic, heterosexual and have a Pagan ideology myself, but why would I expect the fans of my music to be just like me?". Despite the project's apolitical nature, Burzum is included on Meta's Dangerous Individuals and Organizations list.

Burzum's early work was influenced by Tolkien; for example, Vikernes' early moniker "Count Grishnackh" is taken from an orc character called Grishnákh in Tolkien's works. Burzum is a word of the Black Speech of Mordor meaning "darkness" (though Vikernes views what Christians consider "darkness" as "light"), and is inscribed on the One Ring in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Influences and legacy
Vikernes said that the German thrash metal band Destruction "changed my approach towards playing my instrument" despite having only discovered them in 1991. In a 1996 interview with Terrorizer, Vikernes also named Bathory's Blood Fire Death and Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales as significant influences on Burzum. He credited Dead Can Dance's Within the Realm of a Dying Sun for being one of Burzum's first non-metal influences. Other non-metal artists he has cited as influence include the Cure, Depeche Mode and New Order. In 2011, Vikernes said that he no longer kept up with new black metal bands and listened mostly to the Cure instead.

Burzum is widely considered to be the most influential act in black metal history. Bands that have listed Burzum as an influence include Deafheaven, Liturgy, and Altar of Plagues. The project has also inspired musicians from other genres, including Chelsea Wolfe, Mount Eerie, Thurston Moore, Anna von Hausswolff, Grimes,, Vision Eternel, Sleigh Bells, and Kanye West.

Discography
Main releases
 * Burzum (1992)
 * Det som engang var (1993)
 * Hvis lyset tar oss (1994)
 * Filosofem (1996)
 * Dauði Baldrs (1997)
 * Hliðskjálf (1999)
 * Belus (2010)
 * Fallen (2011)
 * Umskiptar (2012)
 * Sôl austan, Mâni vestan (2013)
 * The Ways of Yore (2014)
 * Thulêan Mysteries (2020)
 * The Land of Thulê (2024)

EPs
 * Aske (1993)

Singles
 * "Mythic Dawn" (2015)
 * "Forgotten Realms" (2015)
 * "Thulean Mysteries" (2015)
 * "The Reincarnation of Ódinn" (2023)
 * "The Magic of the Grave" (2024)
 * "The Hidden Name" (2024)
 * "The Nature of the Gods" (2024)
 * "The Call of the Kraken" (2024)
 * "Beyond the Gate" (2024)
 * "Winds of the Vanished Realm" (2024)
 * "Memories in the Mist" (2024)

Demos and promos
 * Burzum Demo (1991)
 * Reh/Demo 91 (1991)
 * Burzum Promo (1992)

Music videos
 * "Dunkelheit" (1996)

Compilation albums
 * Burzum / Aske (1995)
 * Burzum Anthology (2002) (bootleg)
 * Draugen – Rarities (2005) (bootleg, mistakenly featuring an Ildjarn track)
 * Burzum Anthology (2008)
 * From the Depths of Darkness (2011)
 * Foreldra (2019)
 * Thulê (2019)
 * Unreleased Material 1988-1994 (2021)

Box sets
 * Burzum 1992–1997 (1998)
 * Burzum 1992-1999 (2010)
 * XIII (2018)
 * In the Arms of Darkness (2019)

Other appearances
 * Presumed Guilty (1998) (contributed "Et hvitt lys over skogen")
 * Gummo soundtrack (1998) (contributed "Rundtgåing av den transcendentale egenhetens støtte")
 * Fenriz Presents... The Best of Old-School Black Metal (2004) (contributed "Ea, Lord of the Depths")

title: Burzum


text:
Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to cook the food. The term is also generally applied to the devices associated with those methods, the broader cuisines that these methods produce, and the meals or gatherings at which this style of food is cooked and served. The cooking methods associated with barbecuing vary significantly but most involve outdoor cooking.

The various regional variations of barbecue can be broadly categorized into those methods which use direct and those which use indirect heating. Indirect barbecues are associated with North American cuisine, in which meat is heated by roasting or smoking over wood or charcoal. These methods of barbecue involve cooking using smoke at low temperatures and long cooking times, for several hours. Elsewhere, barbecuing more commonly refers to the more direct application of heat, grilling of food over hot coals or a gas fire. This technique is usually done over direct, dry heat or a hot fire for a few minutes. Within these broader categorizations are further national and regional differences.

Etymology and spelling

The English word barbecue and its cognates in other languages come from the Spanish word barbacoa, which has its origin in an indigenous American word. Etymologists believe this to be derived from barabicu found in the language of the Arawak people of the Caribbean and the Timucua people of Florida; it has entered some European languages in the form of barbacoa. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) traces the word to Hispaniola and translates it as a "framework of sticks set upon posts".

A popular folk etymology of the word says that the term is derived from the French barbe à queue ("from beard to tail") signifying a whole animal being roasted on a spit, but this origin for the word is not supported by academic etymology.

The term itself has two spellings in English: "barbecue" and "barbeque". While in most countries the spelling "barbecue" is used, the spelling "barbeque" is occasionally used in Australia, New Zealand, and the US.

History
Spanish explorer Gonzalo Fernández De Oviedo y Valdés was the first to use the word barbecoa in print in Spain in 1526 in the Diccionario de la Lengua Española (2nd Edition) of the Real Academia Española. After Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, the Spaniards apparently found Taíno roasting meat over a grill consisting of a wooden framework resting on sticks above a fire. This framework was also used to store food above ground and for sleeping. The flames and smoke rose and enveloped the meat, giving it a certain flavor. Spaniards called the framework a barbacoa.

Another form of barbacoa involves digging a hole in the ground, burning logs in it and placing stones in it to absorb and retain heat. Large cuts of meat, often wrapped in leaves, often a whole goat or lamb, are placed above a pot so the juices can be used to make a broth. It is then covered with maguey leaves and coal, and set alight. The cooking process takes a few hours. Olaudah Equiano, an African abolitionist, described this method of roasting alligators among the "Mosquito people" (Miskito people) on his journeys to Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Mosquito Coast, in his narrative The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

Linguists have suggested the word was loaned successively into Spanish, then Portuguese, French, and English. In the form barbacado, the word was used in English in 1648 by the supposed Beauchamp Plantagenet in the tract A description of the province of New Albion: "the Indians in stead of salt doe barbecado or dry and smoak fish".

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use in modern form was in 1661, in Edmund Hickeringill's Jamaica Viewed: "Some are slain, And their flesh forthwith Barbacu'd and eat"; it also appears in 1672 in the writings of John Lederer following his travels in the North American southeast in 1669–1670.

The first known use as a noun was in 1697 by the English buccaneer William Dampier. In his New Voyage Round the World, Dampier wrote, "and lay there all night, upon our Borbecu's, or frames of Sticks, raised about 3 foot [3 ft] from the Ground".

As early as the 1730s, New England Puritans were familiar with barbecue, as on 4 November 1731, New London, Connecticut, resident Joshua Hempstead wrote in his diary: "I was at Madm Winthrops at an Entertainment, or Treat of Colln [Colonel] or Samll Brownes a Barbaqued." Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary gave the following definitions:

While the standard modern English spelling of the word is barbecue, variations including barbeque and truncations such as bar-b-q or BBQ may also be found. The spelling barbeque is given in Merriam-Webster as a variant, whereas the Oxford Dictionaries explain that it is a misspelling which is not accepted in standard English and is best avoided. In the Southeastern United States, the word barbecue is used predominantly as a noun referring to roast pork, while in the Southwestern states cuts of beef are often cooked.
 * "To Barbecue – a term for dressing a whole hog" (attestation to Pope)
 * "Barbecue – a hog dressed whole"

Associations
Because the word barbecue came from native groups, Europeans gave it "savage connotations". This association with barbarians and "savages" is strengthened by Edmund Hickeringill's work Jamaica Viewed: with All the Ports, Harbours, and their Several Soundings, Towns, and Settlements through its descriptions of cannibalism. However, according to Andrew Warnes, there is very little proof that Hickeringill's tale of cannibalism in the Caribbean is even remotely true. Another notable false depiction of cannibalistic barbecues appears in Theodor de Bry's Great Voyages, which in Warnes's eyes, "present smoke cookery as a custom quintessential to an underlying savagery [...] that everywhere contains within it a potential for cannibalistic violence". Today, people in the US associate barbecue with "classic Americana".

Styles

In American English usage, grilling refers to a fast process over high heat while barbecuing usually refers to a slow process using indirect heat or hot smoke, similar to some forms of roasting. In a typical US home grill, food is cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal, while in a US barbecue the coals are dispersed to the sides or at a significant distance from the grate. In British usage, barbequeing refers to a fast cooking process done directly over high heat, while grilling refers to cooking under a source of direct, moderate-to-high heat—known in the United States as broiling. Its South American versions are the southern Brazilian churrasco and the Uruguayan/Argentine asado.

For barbecue in the United States, each Southern locale has its own variety of barbecue, particularly sauces. In recent years, the regional variations have blurred as restaurants and consumers experiment and adapt the styles of other regions. South Carolina is the only state that traditionally features all four recognized barbecue sauces, including mustard-based, vinegar-based, and light and heavy tomato-based sauces. North Carolina sauces vary by region; eastern North Carolina uses a vinegar-based sauce, the center of the state uses Lexington-style barbecue, with a combination of ketchup and vinegar as its base, and western North Carolina uses a heavier ketchup base. Memphis barbecue is best known for tomato- and vinegar-based sauces. In some Memphis establishments and in Kentucky, meat is rubbed with dry seasoning (dry rubs) and smoked over hickory wood without sauce. The finished barbecue is then served with barbecue sauce on the side.

In South Africa, braais are informal gatherings of people who convene around an open fire for any occasion and at any location with a grill. They are linked to the consistent warm weather of South Africa that leads to much communal, outdoor activity. The act of convening around a grill is reminiscent of past generations gathering around open fires after a hunt, solidifying the braais' importance to tradition. Modernity has expanded grilling to the use of gas grills, but steel grill grates and campfires are often used. The use of a gas grill is frowned upon and the use of charcoal is accepted, but wood is seen as the best method to cook the meat.

It is expected that people attending a braai bring snacks, drinks, and other meat to eat until the main meal has finished cooking on the grill. This potluck-like activity is known as "bring and braai". Cooking on the braai is a bonding experience for fathers and sons, while women prepare salads and other side dishes in kitchens or other areas away from the grill. Examples of meat prepared for a braai are lamb, steaks, spare ribs, sausages, chicken, and fish. Mielie pap, also known as "Krummel pap", is a crumbled cornmeal that is often served as a side dish.

Techniques
Barbecuing encompasses multiple types of cooking techniques. The original technique is cooking using smoke at low temperatures—usually around 240 –—and significantly longer cooking times (several hours), known as smoking. Grilling is done over direct, dry heat, usually over a hot fire over 500 F for a few minutes. Grilling and smoking are done with wood, charcoal, gas, electricity, or pellets. The time difference between smoking and grilling is because of the temperature difference; at low temperatures used for smoking, meat takes several hours to reach the desired internal temperature.

Smoking
Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, and/or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, nuts, and ingredients used to make beverages such as beer or smoked beer are also smoked.

Grilling
Grilling is a form of cooking that involves a dry heat applied to the food, either from above or below. Grilling is an effective technique in order to cook meat or vegetables quickly since it involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat. Outside of the US, this is the most common technique when cooking classic barbecue foods, although some variants of grilling require direct, but moderate heat.

The words "barbecue" and "grilling" are often used interchangeably, although some argue that barbecue is a type of grilling, and that grilling involves the use of a higher level of heat to sear the food, while barbecuing is a slower process over a low heat.

In practice, the lines blur because it is hard to define what is low temperature and what is high temperature and because many champion barbecue cooks now cook meats such as beef brisket at higher temperatures than was traditional.

Other uses
The term barbecue is also used to designate a flavor added to food items, the most prominent of which are potato chips.

title: Barbecue


text:
User:Sdw

Stephen D. Williams mailto:sdw@lig.net  mailto:stephendwilliams@gmail.com

Interests in advances in education, robotics, web development, AI/ML/vision, and many other topics.

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title: User:Sdw


text:
Arabidopsis

Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced. Changes in thale cress are easily observed, making it a very useful model.

Status
Currently, the genus Arabidopsis has nine species and a further eight subspecies recognised. This delimitation is quite recent and is based on morphological and molecular phylogenies by O'Kane and Al-Shehbaz and others.

Their findings confirm the species formerly included in Arabidopsis made it polyphyletic. The most recent reclassification moves two species previously placed in Cardaminopsis and Hylandra and three species of Arabis into Arabidopsis, but excludes 50 that have been moved into the new genera Beringia, Crucihimalaya, Ianhedgea, Olimarabidopsis, and Pseudoarabidopsis.

All of the species in Arabidopsis are indigenous to Europe, while two of the species have broad ranges also extending into North America and Asia.

In the last two decades, Arabidopsis thaliana has gained much interest from the scientific community as a model organism for research on numerous aspects of plant biology. The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) is a curated online information source for Arabidopsis thaliana genetic and molecular biology research, and The Arabidopsis Book is an online compilation of invited chapters on Arabidopsis thaliana biology. (Note that as of 2013 no further chapters will be published.) In Europe, the model organism resource centre for Arabidopsis thaliana germplasm, bioinformatics and molecular biology resources (including GeneChips) is the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre (NASC) whilst in North America germplasm services are provided by the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) based at Ohio State University. The ordering system for ABRC was incorporated into the TAIR database in June 2001 whilst NASC has always (since 1991) hosted its own ordering system and genome browser.

In 1982, the crew of the Soviet Salyut 7 space station grew some Arabidopsis, thus becoming the first plants to flower and produce seeds in space. They had a life span of 40 days. Arabidopsis thaliana seeds were taken to the Moon on the Chang'e 4 lander in 2019, as part of a student experiment. As of May 2022 Arabidopsis thaliana has successfully been grown in samples of lunar soil.

Arabidopsis is quite similar to the Boechera genus.

List of species and subspecies

 * Arabidopsis arenicola (Richardson ex Hook.) Al-Shehbaz, Elven, D.F. Murray & S.I. Warwick — Arctic rock cress (Greenland, Labrador, Nunavut, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan)
 * Arabidopsis arenosa (L.) Lawalrée — sand rock cress
 * A. arenosa subsp. arenosa (Europe: native in Austria, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, N Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Ukraine; naturalized in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and W Siberia, and Sweden; absent in Albania, Greece, C and S Italy, and Turkey)
 * A. arenosa subsp. borbasii (E Belgium, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine, doubtfully occurring in Denmark)
 * Arabidopsis cebennensis (DC.) (SE France)
 * Arabidopsis croatica (Schott) (Bosnia, Croatia)
 * Arabidopsis halleri (L.)
 * A. halleri subsp. halleri (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, N and C Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and S Ukraine. Probably introduced in N France and extinct in Belgium)
 * A. halleri subsp. ovirensis (Wulfen) (Albania, Austria, NE Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, SW Ukraine, Yugoslavia)
 * A. halleri subsp. gemmifera (Matsumura) (Russian Far East, northeastern China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan)
 * Arabidopsis lyrata (L.) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz — sand cress
 * A. lyrata subsp. lyrata (NE European Russia, Alaska, Canada (Ontario west into British Columbia), and southeastern and central United States (Vermont south into northern Georgia and Mississippi northward into Missouri and Minnesota))
 * A. lyrata subsp. petraea (Linnaeus) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz (Austria, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, N. Italy, Norway, Russia (NW Russia, Siberia and Far East), Scotland, Sweden, Ukraine, boreal North America (Alaska and Yukon). Apparently extinct in Poland)
 * A. lyrata subsp. kamchatica (Fischer ex D.C.) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz (boreal Alaska, Canada (Yukon, Mackenzie District, British Columbia, northern Saskatchewan), Aleutian Islands, eastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Korea, northern China, Japan and Taiwan)
 * Arabidopsis neglecta (Schult.) (Carpathian Mountains (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and adjacent Ukraine))
 * Arabidopsis pedemontana (Boiss.) (northwestern Italy and presumably extinct in adjacent SW Switzerland)
 * Arabidopsis suecica (Fries) Norrlin (Fennoscandinavia and the Baltic region)
 * Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. — thale cress (native range almost all Europe to central Asia, now naturalized worldwide)

Reclassified species
The following species previously placed in Arabidopsis are not currently considered part of the genus. • A. bactriana → Dielsiocharis bactriana

• A. brevicaulis → Crucihimalaya himalaica

• A. bursifolia → Beringia bursifolia

• A. campestris → Crucihimalaya wallichii

• A. dentata → Murbeckiella pinnatifida

• A. drassiana →

• A. erysimoides → Erysimum hedgeanum

• A. eseptata → Olimarabidopsis umbrosa

• A. gamosepala → Neotorularia gamosepala

• A. glauca → Thellungiella salsuginea

• A. griffithiana → Olimarabidopsis pumila

• A. himalaica → Crucihimalaya himalaica

• A. huetii → Murbeckiella huetii

• A. kneuckeri → Crucihimalaya kneuckeri

• A. korshinskyi → Olimarabidopsis cabulica

• A. lasiocarpa → Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa

• A. minutiflora → Ianhedgea minutiflora

• A. mollis → Beringia bursifolia

• A. mollissima → Crucihimalaya mollissima

• A. monachorum → Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa

• A. mongolica → Crucihimalaya mongolica

• A. multicaulis → Arabis tibetica

• A. novae-anglicae → Neotorularia humilis

• A. nuda → Drabopsis nuda

• A. ovczinnikovii → Crucihimalaya mollissima

• A. parvula → Thellungiella parvula

• A. pinnatifida → Murbeckiella pinnatifida

• A. pumila → Olimarabidopsis pumila

• A. qiranica → Sisymbriopsis mollipila

• A. richardsonii → Neotorularia humilis

• A. russeliana → Crucihimalaya wallichii

• A. salsugineum → Eutrema salsugineum

• A. sarbalica → Crucihimalaya wallichii

• A. schimperi → Robeschia schimperi

• A. stenocarpa → Beringia bursifolia

• A. stewartiana → Olimarabidopsis pumila]]

• A. stricta → Crucihimalaya stricta]]

• A. taraxacifolia → Crucihimalaya wallichii

• A. tenuisiliqua → Arabis tenuisiliqua

• A. tibetica → Crucihimalaya himalaica

• A. tibetica → Arabis tibetica

• A. toxophylla → Pseudoarabidopsis toxophylla

• A. trichocarpa → Neotorularia humilis

• A. trichopoda → Beringia bursifolia

• A. tschuktschorum → Beringia bursifolia

• A. tuemurnica → Neotorularia humilis

• A. verna → Drabopsis nuda

• A. virgata → Beringia bursifolia

• A. wallichii → Crucihimalaya wallichii

• A. yadungensis →

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Cytogenetics
Cytogenetic analysis has shown the haploid chromosome number (n) is variable and varies across species in the genus:

A. thaliana is n=5 and the DNA sequencing of this species was completed in 2001. A. lyrata has n=8 but some subspecies or populations are tetraploid. Various subspecies A. arenosa have n=8 but can be either 2n (diploid) or 4n (tetraploid). A. suecica is n=13 (5+8) and is an amphidiploid species originated through hybridization between A. thaliana and diploid A. arenosa.

A. neglecta is n=8, as are the various subspecies of A. halleri.

As of 2005, A. cebennensis, A. croatica and A. pedemontana have not been investigated cytologically.

title: Arabidopsis