Inquiry will miss the main issue which keeps us at risk

By
John Minto
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19
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The most worrying aspect of the commission of inquiry into the Christchurch shootings is that the terms of reference give too much room for our security agencies – the SIS and GCSB – to hide.

From the outside it appears it is the culture within the organisations which continues to put New Zealanders at risk but this will not be addressed by the inquiry.

Back in 2007, instead of a common sense approach, the SIS spent $8 million on surveillance prior to the infamous Urewera terrorism raids which resulted in a few pidling convictions for breaches of the Arms Act. It became apparent the SIS was chasing phantoms based on the inherent prejudices of its unaccountable senior leadership.

The powers and budgets of these spy agencies have skyrocketed since then but its apparent the culture remains locked in a racist time warp which sees dissent from ethnic or religious minorities as a threat while the majority culture goes unobserved.

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In this latest inquiry the SIS and GCSB will be allowed to hide their failure behind a heavy cloak of secrecy and in the end the public will be none the wiser.

The two spy agencies should be scrapped and their legitimate surveillance activities handed over to the police where there is at least a modicum of democratic oversight.

 

 

19 COMMENTS

  1. Handed over to the Police? A band of Freemason brotherhood! A limited company within a corporation. You think that’s a good idea?

    • Evidence, Helena ? I am not sure if the Freemasons hold the same sway as they did in the 19thC and 20thC.

      I was a bit annoyed when Marama Davidson talked of some specific group being discriminated against in NZ seemingly oblivious of how Irish Catholics were treated here historically.

      Catholics were forbidden to belong to secret societies such as the Masons. The Canterbury Education Board was dominated by the Masons, and it was I believe not until about 1956, that a non-Mason Irish Catholic was appointed for the first time to a headmastership in the Canterbury Education Board area.There is actually some quite interesting history here.

      Sometime prior to that, a criminal trial in Hawkes Bay was aborted when the defendant was seen to make a Masonic sign to the judge.

      Those days are, I suggest, long gone, and the Freemasons are genuinely a benevolent group in NZ.

      It would be incredibly ironic for the NZ Police Force to be a brotherhood of Free Masons when – a bit like some American police forces- it used to be fairly heavily loaded with Irish Catholics – and deeming cops now under control of the Freemasons sounds like urban myth, so how about some evidence ?

  2. In addition to the well known SIS and GCSB, The Daily Blog has previously drawn attention to various other security agencies, whether they are just sub groups of the main agencies, or some, special units of NZ Police is another matter.
    –the NSG (National Security Group),
    –the CNSN (Cabinet National Security Committee),
    –the ODESC (Officials’ Committee for Domestic & External Security Coordination),
    –the SIB (Security and Intelligence Board),
    –the CTCC (Counter-Terrorism Coordinating Committee),
    –the NICC ( National Intelligence Coordination Committee)
    –the IAD (Intelligence and Assessments Directorate),
    –the NRU (National Risk Unit)
    –the NSPD (National Security Policy Directorate).

    Whew…

    John’s point is correct. Since the Key Govt. extension of powers and large budget increases, there are more than enough resources. Govt. departments are now able to engage in warrantless snooping by third parties, with full life time privacy for operatives in many cases. As WINZ/MSD clients and Christchurch EQC customers have discovered!

    The obsession with an Anglo focus and the US dominated “5 Spies” type approach is indeed the problem. NZ should have an independent foreign policy and leave 5 Eyes. Domestic intelligence should be for transparent, useful reasons–like catching armed Neo Nazis perhaps–and the agencies highly accountable. It might be good to retire the Cold War era initiated SIS, and GCSB, and start from scratch.

  3. 1.Needs to be some cloak of secrecy-be a fairly lame spy agency otherwise
    2. All threats need to be assessed still-keep all options on the table. Everyone is a potential threat. Profiling is increasingly useful.
    3.Espionage is an increasing threat.
    4.Tarrant would have been difficult to identify and stop, but his profile is very very specific. He is a wake up call and a sign of growing nationalism.
    5. Intervention at an early stage at school for loners and social misfits, particularly smart ones with a history of being bullied.
    6. Why the rise in nationalism? Partly we fail to plan for immigration-health, housing etc-we just bring em in. Creates fear and tension.
    How was the Te Araroa trail? Looking forward to what you found-social and environment, reflections etc?

  4. Kia ora John.
    First, they are not “our” security agencies (unless you happen to be a ethno-nationalist/monarchist/five-eyes loyalist which to the best of my knowledge you are not).
    Second, the security forces do monitor “the majority culture”. That is to say, they “monitor” you and I and every other decent patriotic New Zealander.
    Third, they go well beyond “observing” public and private political discourse. They actively intervene in the political process and in the private lives of New Zealanders who for whatever reason attract their attention.
    Fourth, any “inquiry” will be held in secret because a genuine public inquiry would reveal not state “failure” but state culpability in the Al Noor massacre, and that is not going to happen.
    Let’s get real. The NZIC (SIS and GCSB) are a force for evil in this country, a threat to democracy, enemies of freedom and criminal conspirators against the public good. By incorporating their personnel and functions into the New Zealand Police you would only spread the poison wider through the body of the state.
    How many deaths will we tolerate? 50? 500? 5000?
    I say not a single one more. The NZIC are willfully and deliberately leading New Zealand into a complex of communal conflicts, and if they are allowed to continue down that path the consequences will be catastrophic.

  5. All the spying they have done on NZ citizens has proven to be ineffective with white supermacist how can they stop more like him coming to our country.

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