Squiz Shortcuts - Daniel Duggan

Your Shortcut to the controversial case of Daniel Duggan

Daniel Duggan is the former pilot/flight instructor with the US Marines who is set to be extradited from Australia to America on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering. The case is set to generate headlines for a while yet, so in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll get you across:

• the background on who Duggan is

• what is known about what he’s accused of

• what happens next.

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Squiz the Shortcut

Have I heard of this guy?
Maybe, it’s a case that’s been in and out of the news for a couple of years now. But heading into Christmas, there was movement at the station… 

OK, so who is he?
Daniel Duggan is 56yo - he’s a former US citizen, but he renounced that in 2012 and became an Aussie. He first came to live in Australia in the early 2000s and met his wife Saffrine in 2011. They have 6 children between them.

You said in the intro that he was a US Marine?
Yep - he was a fighter pilot and flight instructor from 1989-2002. 

And what did he do when he came to Australia?
He ran a tourism venture, fittingly called Top Gun Tasmania. Clients would pay him to fly over Tassie in a military jet.

Got you. So where did the trouble begin?
In 2010, while he was doing that in Tassie, he received an offer to train pilots - many from China - at the Test Flying Academy of South Africa. And it’s his time at that school that led to his arrest. 

And that was an issue?
The US says he was teaching Chinese pilots to illegally land a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier, which is a breach of their arms trafficking laws. They also allege that he was laundering money.

Was he the only one accused of doing the wrong thing?
Nope. US authorities allege he was part of a broader conspiracy involving many people at the school to train these pilots. But Duggan says he was told by those running the school that the students were civilians and students, not military personnel. He’s also said the techniques he was teaching could be used to land on aircraft carriers, but there are a bunch of non-military/legal uses for them as well…

Got you. But that didn’t wash? 
Clearly not because Duggan was arrested in the NSW regional city of Orange in October 2022 after returning to Australia earlier in the year to work - he and his family had been living in China before that. 

So this is all quite recent?
Actually, it goes back a bit further… The extradition request Australia received in 2022 revealed not only the details of the charges but that Duggan had actually been secretly indicted by a grand jury in the US in 2017…

Right. So what’s his situation been since his arrest?
Duggan has been held in a maximum-security prison in NSW while he waited for the government to approve or deny America’s extradition request. And on 20 December, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus approved it. 

What does that mean?
Australia now has 2 months - so to late February - to hand Duggan over to American officials. But many people, including his family, are arguing that shouldn’t happen… 

There’s been a bit of a campaign, right?
Yes, so when Duggan was arrested in 2022, his wife Saffrine and the family’s supporters have been vocal in calling for Duggan to be released from prison on the basis that he hasn’t had the chance to defend himself. In 2023, Saffrine lodged a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee. She says her family has spent nearly $1 million on legal fees…

And she’s been critical of the Australian Government?
Yes. Both she and Duggan’s legal team have criticised the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) for bringing Duggan back to Australia in 2002 - they alleged ASIO lured Duggan to Australia from China with the promise of work. Once back here, he was detained… 

Can ASIO do that?
Good question… Duggan’s legal team made a complaint to the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, who investigates ASIO for potential breaches. The Inspector General largely ticked off ASIO’s involvement - although they did note one breach, but the details are classified…

What does ASIO say about it?
Mike Burgess is the Director-General - he’s talked about Australian veterans who are involved in training international pilots. He says “they are transferring highly sensitive, privileged and classified know-how to foreign governments ... that do not share our values or respect the rule of law”. 

So this is a thing that’s happening?
Well, following Duggan’s arrest, this became a big story with the UK, New Zealand and Canada - they all cracked down on any sign of that sort of thing.

So Duggan is off to the US to face charges?
Seems so, but but we don’t know when he will be transferred. 

What does his family say?
Saffrine says they feel abandoned by the Australian Government, and “it is very difficult to explain to the children why this is happening to their father”.

So there’s more to come on this one?
For sure there is…

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