A security analyst has described the Government's lack of awareness that a foreign agency operated a spy intelligence system out of New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau for several years as “astounding.”
This was revealed in an investigation released on Thursday by the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) Brendan Horsley.
It found the GCSB was aware when it agreed to hosting the signal’s intelligence system it could be used to support "military operations by foreign partners".
"The capability clearly had the potential to be used, in conjunction with other intelligence sources, to support military action against targets," the report by IGIS Brendan Horsley said.
The system operated for about seven years between 2013 and 2020, when it stopped due to an equipment failure.
However, government ministers were not told, despite the agency knowing how sensitive the system was.
Security analyst Paul Buchanan told 1News the fact none of our political decision makers, the appropriate ministers, or the leaders of the GCSB were aware of this capability was "astounding",
"You have a foreign agency operating a high technology for espionage purposes on New Zealand soil and no one in our chain of command was aware of what it was doing."
Luxon — 'operating practice has changed'
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today said these were events tied to the last decade and consistent with previous legislation.
"What I would say is that has changed. Operating practice of the agency has changed as well."
He would not comment on whether the system was used to hurt or kill people.
Labour’s GCSB spokesperson Priyanca Radhakrishnan said the lack of transparency was concerning.
“As a government, you want to know what your security agencies are doing and inadvertently or directly supporting.”
Current senior leadership and legal teams at the GCSB “apparently knew nothing of the system” until it was “rediscovered” following concerns raised about another partner system hosted by the agency in 2020.
The inquiry said the system was of no benefit to the GCSB, which did not know the outcome of the spy operation.
The report’s recommendations included the compilation of a register of collection or analysis capabilities in New Zealand operated by foreign partners, and an audit of the agency’s systems.
Any international agreements required regular review, and Horsley’s office wanted to see them.
SHARE ME