Irvine was then director general of Australia's overseas spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service.
He also found himself drawn to the Kremlin's overseas spying operation in London.
It basically clears the domestic agency MI5, the overseas spy agency MI6 and the surveillance agency GCHQ.
His appointment comes at a crucial time for the overseas spy agency, as Britain's involvement increases in the war against Isis in Iraq and Syria and conflicts continue in Ukraine, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, the Central African Republic and numerous other nations.
A retired C.I.A. officer described for me some of the questions that would normally arise in vetting: "Does dramatic information turned up by an overseas spy square with his access, or does it exceed his plausible reach?
The West Australian newspaper reported that the overseas spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (Asis), would be empowered to "provide assistance to the defence force in support of military operations and to co-operate with the defence force on intelligence matters".
The incident is just one of a series of blunders described by the Chilcot report committed by Britain's overseas spy agency, the Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6, in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The debate became more substantial on Wednesday, when the former head of Britain's overseas spy agency Sir Richard Dearlove argued in Prospect magazine that: "The truth about Brexit from a national security perspective is that the cost to Britain would be low".
The ACLU wants the courts to make the US government provide details of the executive order that established the overseas spying programme.
The domestic and overseas British spy agencies have seen their own operations dragged into the headlines, with dozens of officers engaged full time preparing to defend the lawsuits.
