On 31 January 2003 the US was gearing up for its illegal invasion of Iraq. The main problem it faced was the reluctance of the UN Security Council to agree on a resolution approving the invasion.
So the US got its National Security Agency on the job and this email was sent out to the “five eyes” of the secret UKUSA agreement (US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand)
Here in New Zealand the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) received the email:
To: [Recipients withheld]
From: FRANK KOZA, Def Chief of Staff (Regional Targets) CIV/NSA
Sent on Jan 31 2003 0:16
Subject: Reflections of Iraq Debate/Votes at UN-RT Actions + Potential for Related Contributions
Importance: HIGH
Top Secret//COMINT//X1
All,
As you’ve likely heard by now, the Agency is mounting a surge particularly directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members (minus US and GBR of course) for insights as to how to membership is reacting to the on-going debate RE: Iraq, plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/ negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies, etc – the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to US goals or to head off surprises. In RT, that means a QRC surge effort to revive/create efforts against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters.
It was a directive to spy on UN Security Council members to get leverage for the US to pressure them to approve the Iraq invasion. In the end the US failed to get UN support, the invasion went ahead illegally and a UK security analyst, Katharine Gunn, leaked the email.
No problem that our government opposed the invasion. Our GCSB was right in there, using its Waihopai dishes to surveil all communications through telecommunications satellites over our part of the world to get information to assist the US with its universally opposed invasion of Iraq.
New Zealand governments tell us the role of the GCSB is to keep us safe from terrorism and cyber attacks but the real work the GCSB is engaged in is spying on the rest of the world to provide intelligence for the goals of US imperialism. The Kim Dotcom spying was run of the mill work for the GCSB – in this case spying on behalf of US multinationals wanting to protect copyright.
So John Key’s faux outrage yesterday over 100,000 invalid signatures on the asset sales referendum should not overshadow the far more important and deeply worrying decision to give more powers to the C
GCSB to spy on New Zealanders.
It comes off the back of revelations from the fiasco resulting from the agency illegally spying on Kim Dotcom. Subsequently we know the agency spied on no fewer than 88 New Zealanders since 2003 when parliament specifically prohibited them from doing so.
But as one commentator put it – “it’s only illegal if you don’t do it – if you do then the government will change to law to make it legal”. Precisely the same thing happened when the police were found to have knowingly and recklessly disregarded the law in their illegal surveillance of those subsequently arrested in the even bigger spying fiasco – the Urewera case. The police we heavily criticized by the Supreme Court but never batted an eyelid and the government rushed through legislation to legalise their illegal behaviour.
As he made the announcement on Monday Key once again stressed the need for the GCSB to maintain cyber security. A smokescreen. The police already have a cyber security unit – why not pass the responsibility there?
In reality there is nothing the GCSB does that the police should not be already doing.
Labour, the Greens and Mana will not support extending surveillance powers to the GCSB without a full enquiry into the illegal goings on at the agency but Winston Peters is riding to the rescue. This is not surprising because Peters, a protégé of Robert Muldoon, is a well know supporter of the US. He’s happy to give the empire his backing – no questions asked.
Peters’ proposal for a group of well respected New Zealanders to oversee the agency and the approvals it seeks to spy will be no different to what happens now. This is an organization which routinely pulls the wool over politicians eyes and keeps important material hidden from the Prime Minister (See my previous post on what they didn’t tell PM David Lange when he approved the GCSB building Waihopai).
Meanwhile three brave kiwis, Adi Leeson, Sam Land and Peter Murnane appear in the Court of Appeal today seeking to overturn a High Court decision allowing the GCSB to pursue a civil claim for $1.2 million for damage done to the Waihopai spybase when they deflated one of the domes in an anti-war protest.
This heroic trio deserve our support and gratitude while those who would give uncritical support to the US and allow the undermining of our civil liberties by unaccountable servants of the empire deserve our deepest disrespect.
Ahem. It’s only illegal until you get caught doing it.
We have no idea how often, or for how long, the illegal spying went on. We only know that at some point both groups were caught doing it, at which point the laws were changed.
The GCSB are in bed with the very people they’re supposed to protect us from. We don’t need an enquiry – we need to disband them. In the last fifty years, we have taken a few cautious steps to assert our sovereignty, fought against all the way by people like Peters and Key, as well as several within Labour. We tried to step back from the Cold War with a frigate to Mururoa and the nuclear free policies, which our precious bloody spies and admirals opposed all the way. Now we are being dragged back into taking the side of torturers, invaders and drone murderers by Key and his cronies. It’s up to us to say no. We do not want to be part of your stupid games. We believe a better world is possible. We neither need nor want your shoulder tapped spies.
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