ASIO has cracked a major spy ring which had become close to current and former politicians as well as police.

A senior bureaucrat with top level security clearance to access classified defence information, had also been groomed.

Director general of ASIO, Mike Burgess, says the “nest of spies” were found last year and removed from Australia.

“In the last 12 months a significant number of foreign spies and their proxies have either been removed form Australia or rendered inoperative,” he said.

“I’m talking about a number in double figures.”

Executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, told 6PR’s Gareth Parker it’s likely the spies came from Russia.

“I think there is a very high degree of certainty Mike Burgess is talking about Russia in this case,” he said.

“Probably Russia and China are the two biggest problems for ASIO right now, in terms of human espionage.”

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