GCSB’s lack of transparency ‘astounding’ — security analyst
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.”
Paul Buchanan is the smartest Security analyst NZ has, and his appraisal of what has happened is damning.
So our Intelligence apparatus has given the NSA (probably) access to our spying powers and no one told any of the civilian Government?
So a Deep State that is working with other Deep State’s to spy and break the law minus any democratic civilian oversight?
When we argued this was happening during the Moment of Truth, we were told this could never happen.
Looks like it happened.
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Well it was Rebecca Kitteridge, seconded to the GCSB to look into illicit spying, who said that the spooks’ work would make an entertaining reality television programme, and maybe she was right. Hutt Valley girl, like Chris Bishop, searching for the sausage rolls which Chris Hipkins gave to King Charles, forcing the poor buggers to eat crayfish and swipe poor children’s school lunches.
The present and previous governments are claiming that this operation was “lawful” but clearly it was not. The system was installed in New Zealand because it was there to gather intelligence on New Zealand residents and citizens and to identify targets for assassination. That was going beyond what would have been lawful for the GCSB. It may have been aimed at New Zealand political figures and journalists who were deemed potentially hostile to the Five Eyes interests, or it may have gone beyond that. We do know that New Zealand citizens have been assassinated outside of New Zealand territory by the Five Eyes network, but it might not have been lawful for the GCSB to participate in those assassinations. Hence the perceived need to have the intelligence services of another state doing that work on behalf of the GCSB. The government could not be told about the system for a number of reasons, one of which is that some members of some New Zealand governments or their associates would have been on the target list, and also because there was an implicit understanding that New Zealand governments would consider it politically prudent not to know what their Five Eyes masters were up to. The idea that this was a breach of New Zealand sovereignty is something of a joke, because neither in law nor in practice is the Realm of New Zealand a sovereign state.
Don’t worry, those who needed to know, knew and the world is safer for our actions. You’re welcome.
Spooks gotta spook. How else would Trump know about Rudd without the US using NZ to spy on AU
All fun and games until you’re a threat to US style “democracy” Ask Norman Kirk and Gough Whitlam about it. But R Smith is happy to bendover and take one for the team.
We are the team.
When you say “safer.” Does that include the NZ economy slipping into recession?
Your economy is of no concern of ours, unless you seek aid from the wrong sources.
Is the “safety” features you refer to the same as during the espionage program?
… or you have something we want.
I take the view that there is only one thing we need to know & the GCSB is not even close to knowing it, obviously, neither are you which is no loss. What has been is what will be is something else to remember.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
When they came for me, we slapped each other on the back, chuckled and headed to the nearest bar for a drink.
If you had tried just a tad more, you could have achieved utter arrogance, and a gold star qualification in obnoxiousness..
You quite brilliantly demonstrate why the majority of the world is turning against the step children of the British colonial marauders, and looking toward what is a rational, and natural evolutionary change in human relations…
Your so called “logic” is far too “yankee” to be useful as any more than a rag to wipe off the stains they left on our history ..
There is more to come on this story of 5 Eyes sucking up by the twats in the wood panelled offices, and the sycophantic politicians that run with it all–“ooh…secrets…ooh…
The “pie and Penthouse” brigade have apparently been running around the last few weeks trying to get non disclosure documents signed by a whole bunch of former security agency people along the lines of “I know nothink…” well given these bunglers could not even detect the Christchurch gunman who killed 51 in the Mosque Massacre it is no surprise they let “someone” run a secret Op that may have been at odds with NZ foreign policy.
Time to out these fuckers and more New Zealanders to wake up.
It is time to let go of the false notion that the SIS is simply a bunch of incompetent clowns (which is an idea that suits the SIS better than some of the alternatives). With Rebecca Kitteridge currently the Director of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the “Intelligence Community” is now directly controlling the political affairs of the Realm. Among the many imperatives for the decolonization and democratization of Aotearoa is that the SIS and GCSB must be disbanded and their records opened up to scrutiny by our own people.
All fun and games until you’re a threat to US style “democracy” Ask Norman Kirk and Gough Whitlam about it. But R Smith is happy to bendover and take one for the team.
I used to get snarky about the use of the words “deep state” because strictly speaking it applies to 1980s Turkey, where a combination of bureaucrats judges and police tried to undermine Turkish democracy. But I will say this, we are all getting closer to that. So I snark no more.
Капиталистические бегущие собаки.
Read the preface of Hagers book , The Hollowmen , written by David Lange . He knew there was monkey business way back then .
I mean, the idea that the ‘leaders’ of the GCSB didn’t know is just ridiculous. Those American-loving rats absolutely knew.
Every single person who collaborated in this attack on our nation should be hunted down, tried for treason, and sentenced to the traditional punishment (legally and with due process).
You are the type we hunt, not vice versa.
lol, OK, Walter Mitty. You will never be a New Zealander, zionist.
jOHN KEY. jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY jOHN KEY
Agree.The NSA jet was a frequent visitor when he reigned.
Reports indicate that this operation commenced in the period 2008 to 2013 while John Key was Prime Minister of New Zealand and he may or may not have had knowledge of it. The whole operation was designed so that responsibility could not be traced to the senior officials in the GCSB or any minister of government, though that does not mean that they were all in ignorance as they claim. In fact it is a virtual certainty that they had informally been made aware, and chose to retain the benefit of (barely) plausible deniability. However the circumstances are not specifically linked to John Key problem or the National Party government. Move forward to 2017 and we have the “Security Chiefs memo” to Jacinda Ardern (not covered in the New Zealand media but leaked to the “Financial Times” of London) which set to dictate the foreign and certain domestic policies of the new government. This amounted to a policy coup by the SIS, GCSB and Military Intelligence which met with astonishing success. Then in 2022 the SIS managed to place its former head Rebecca Kitteridge at the Head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. So in the space of six years the SIS has managed to put itself in the driver’s seat of the New Zealand political system. That is an impressive achievement which is rather an odds with the “Penthouse and a pie” image cultivated by a section of the left. I don’t know of any other western “democracy” where the security services have achieved such a degree of influence and control over the political system, and I have to confess I myself was caught off-guard by the audacity of the SIS actions, particularly over the last few months of Jacinda Ardern’s leadership. The questions now are over how the SIS will choose to use its massive new influence, how far Christopher Luxon will go to accommodate them, and whether the SIS, GCSB and NZDF will seek to further extend and formalize their power over the state. Given the history of how Treasury officials acting without any political mandate were able to set a new course for the New Zealand economy from 1984 to the present day, I would not be surprised if the SIS is able to stamp its mark on colonial government policies for decades to come, or however long the regime may last.
” Reports indicate that this operation commenced in the period 2008 to 2013 while John Key was Prime Minister of New Zealand and he may or may not have had knowledge of it ”
Its not credible that Key just didn’t know after he and his lieutenants behaviour was exposed in Nicky Hagar’s book.
And that’s only what we know so far.
Dear comrade Winston (Min Foreign Affairs),
Good friend, I wish to congratulate you on your return to political power, but you are nowhere near to my record. It’s so much easier to win elections when you can get rid of your opposition permanently.
I also wish to apologize for any issues that might have been caused to your secret service recently. I do recall that the Russian Ambassador visited your secret service about a decade ago, after a series of unexplained burglaries at his embassy. Your secret service was very hospitable, but could not shed any light on the matter.
As a token of appreciation, our Ambassador gave your secret service director a priceless Russian heirloom, that had been carefully restored by KGB technicians. It had some curious magical properties, such that when you placed it near a wifi router its eyes glowed red, and when you placed it near classified documents its eyes went green, which made it a wonderful talking point. I’m sorry if it’s caused you any problems my old friend. Please send it back to us and we’ll have it fixed up like new in no time.
Yours sincerely
Vlad (Atlas Network chief of staff).
But seriously, is anyone else drawing the conclusion that Kitteridge wasn’t seconded to the Gcsb to investigate illegal spying, but actually to keep a lid on it. And she was kept in the director position so long, to prevent this being found out. And the 88 persons she said were illegally spied on, could have been a complete fabrication, because who’s to know otherwise. That it was all a waste of time, done at the behest of Key, acting on the whims of the Hollywood moneymen, on the tail of fatty PoPo.
What irony, that the US runs one of the biggest industrial espionage operations, breaching copyright willy nilly to steal commercially sensitive information, and use it to advance their own interests.
What irony that the US is trying to extradite fatty PoPo for breaking a criminal copyright law that is not even illegal in NZ, yet those that organised and facilitated the use of clandestine spying equipment in the heart of the Gcsb, under the very noses of highly trained expert analysts who should have been alert to it,
with who knows what illegal ramifications including; spying on the leaders of our pacific neighbors,
to disappearances such as Arjen Kampthers, or providing intelligence to better kill people in warzones – will go completely unidentified and unpunished. I mean, swept under the rug, and the rug then drycleaned, then shredded and incinerated, and the ashes flushed down the toilet by a man in dark glasses and a trenchcoat,
humming yanky doodle dandy. Of course, none of this will be properly investigated by anyone, and will fade into the mists of history, just like the injustices committed to those in state care. But it does explain what the NSA jet was doing repeatedly at Wgtn airport, firstly bringing in the spying equipment and personnel to install and maintain it, and then returning them to the US. Can the Inspector General identify the US personnel involved, and extradite them to NZ for questioning, or is he a rubber stamping papertiger?
Hopefully Kitteridge will move to a position where her talents for keeping a lid on things can be put to good use.
That’s right, she later joined the Public Service Commission, which is ground zero for covering up and keeping a lid on things, like abuse in state care. Vlad would be proud.
Dick, Yes, I think Kitteridge went to the SIS – whatever- directly from Key’s office, and the interview in which she suggested that she thought their job would make a good reality television program, was disingenuous, to say the last. It was also rather insulting when few watch television now, and reality television caters for mindless morons.
I’ve always assumed that whatever intelligence gathered locally is known to foreign partners whether they were formally told or not. I’d be surprised if that took someone in a silo to connect a line up for that to happen. It sounds like something we are supposed to belief, that it all stopped in 2020.
With broadband and cell phones towers, off shore data storage and satellites etc, we’re less and less important as a partner – Oz is so nearby as per time and place zone.