an australian secret intelligence service (asis) station was established in chile at the australian embassy in july 1971 at the request of the cia and authorised by then liberal party foreign minister william mcmahon. newly-elected 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. it appears, however, the last asis agent did not leave chile until october 1973, one month after the coup d'état had brought down the allende government. there were also two officers of australian security intelligence organisation (asio), australia's internal security service, who were based in santiago working as migration officers during this period. the failure of timely closure of australia's covert operations was one of the reasons for the sacking of the director of asis on 21 october 1975. this took effect on 7 november, just four days before prime minister's whitlam's own dismissal in the 1975 australian constitutional crisis with allegations of cia political interference.