More powers to the spies in NZ

GCSB may be given permission to spy on Kiwis' private information

NZ Herald,

9 March, 2016

New Zealand's foreign intelligence agency should be able to spy on Kiwis' private communications, a wide-ranging intelligence and security review has recommended.

At the same time, a new single piece of legislation to govern both the activities of the Security Intelligence Service and Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) would contain a beefed-up authorisation process, designed to safeguard privacy.

However, that could be overridden in urgent situations where there is a threat to life, or a brief window of time to obtain intelligence critical to national security.

National will attempt to get Labour onboard to support legislation based on the report - but face strong opposition from the Greens, who say the proposals will result in a "culture of fear and spying".

The Government-ordered review, released today and completed by former Labour Deputy Prime Minister Sir Michael Cullen and lawyer and professional director Dame Patsy Reddy, contains 107 recommendations.

GCSB and New Zealander's communications

The push to scrap the current restriction on the GCSB intercepting New Zealanders' private communications will be controversial.

Sir Michael told a press conference that such co-operation between the two intelligence agencies was the intent of the current law.

A lack of clarity about what the law permits and recent high-profile controversies meant the GCSB had taken an overly conservative approach - which could lead valuable lines of investigation been dropped, and ultimately put New Zealanders' safety at risk.

"We are not proposing a vast extension of power...it is a clarification...the Government is, in effect, is almost placed in a position of failing in its duty to protect the lives of New Zealanders, because the legislation is simply not clear enough," Sir Michael said.

The various pieces of legislation covering the agencies required "the wisdom of at least half a dozen Solomons", he said, and was "sort of a double-humped ass".

The report gave the example of a New Zealander held hostage overseas. The best way to locate them could be to track their cellphone, but at present the GCSB cannot easily do so under its reading of the law.

Sir Michael said cases where the GCSB could need to monitor Kiwis in New Zealand could include people planning a terrorist act, or those involved in very serious crime like paedophilia.

Asked why the SIS could not deal with such cases, he said they often would not have the technology or capability as the GCSB.

The distinction between the two agencies was now more about that technological capability, rather than any foreign or domestic mandate, he said.

"SIS basically has the old fashioned tools, and GCSB has the modern tools. And it's really a question of, can you use Snicko and Hawke Eye, or can't you, in order to establish whether there was a no ball," Sir Michael said.

Future reviews will be carried out every five to seven years. Dame Patsy and Sir Michael said it would be likely that in the future a full merger between the agencies could be considered.

They did not make such a recommendation because it was not part of the mandate set by the Government.

The proposed purpose of the new single piece of legislation would be to "protect New Zealand as an open, democratic society".

New safeguards

Under the single piece of legislation proposed, all of the agencies' activities would require some form of authorisation. A three-tiered system was recommended, with higher level of scrutiny for activity that is more intrusive or targets New Zealanders.

# Tier 1 - would require a warrant approved by the Attorney-General and a judicial commissioner. Such sign-off would be required for activities that would otherwise be unlawful and target a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident or organisation.

# Tier 2 - would require a warrant issued by the Attorney-General. Activity that would otherwise be unlawful, but not targeted at New Zealanders or New Zealand organisations.

# Tier 3 - the lowest level, would need a policy statement issued by the Minister responsible for the agencies after referral to the Inspector-General.

Currently warrants are approved by the Minister in Charge of SIS and GCSB.

Under the new regime and before green-lighting a proposal, the Attorney-General and judicial commissioner would need to be satisfied of a range of conditions. Tier 1 or Tier 2 conditions could be granted "to test, maintain or develop capabilities or train employees for the purpose of performing the agency's functions".

Asked how happy New Zealanders would be to be "guinea pigs" for staff training, Sir Michael said there would be clear and stringent internal protocols.

"Most of the training is not done within the context of New Zealand. I don't want to comment further than that."

The tiered process could override the authorisation process if there is an imminent threat to the life or safety of any person, or a delay in obtaining the information is likely to seriously prejudice national security.

The Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants would be notified immediately in such cases, and the Attorney-General and Commissioner would consider an application after the fact, and order any intelligence to be destroyed if the application is declined.

Other new safeguards include allowing non-New Zealanders to complain to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, and expanding the size of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament to a maximum of seven members.

The committee would also be able to call for reports from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

Countering foreign terrorist fighters legislation

The review backed the extension of the Countering Foreign Terrorist Fighters legislation, which is due to expire on March 31 next year.

That law, which was rushed through Parliament, gave the SIS greater powers of surveillance. Today's review recommended an additional safeguard, in that any decision by the Minister of Internal Affairs to cancel a passport should be reviewed by a judicial commissioner.

Mass surveillance

The review acknowledged increasing concern about the privacy of New Zealanders and the intelligence agencies' compliance with the law and the prospect of mass surveillance, particularly in the wake of Edward Snowden's information leaks.

"There has been considerable debate in the media about whether the GCSB conducts 'mass surveillance' of New Zealanders. Having spent some months learning about the agencies' operations in detail, we have concluded that this is not the case," the report found.

The GCSB conservatively estimates that more than 1 billion communications take place each day on commercial satellites that are visible from Waihope station.

"We were told the proportion of those 1 billion communications that are actually intercepted equates to roughly one half of a bucket of water out of an Olympic-sized pool."

Foreign partners

Any access to intelligence held by a foreign partner should still require the appropriate level of authorisation, the report recommended, in order to stop agencies using foreign partners to collect information they could not lawfully obtain themselves.

The report found that, of all the security leads the SIS investigates, about half are received from foreign intelligence partners.

New Zealand gained considerably more from its international intelligence partnerships that it provides in return, the report stated. For example, for every intelligence report the SIS provides to a foreign partner, it gets back 170.

Political reaction

The report released today had been received by members of the Intelligence and Security Committee, a statutory panel including Labour Party leader Andrew Little.

Prime Minister John Key has said he will be trying to get bipartisan support from Labour for changes to the intelligence services in the wake of a review.

Mr Little told the Herald that the committee met yesterday and members wanted to clarify whether the GCSB was picking up powers it didn't previously have.

That remained somewhat uncertain, Mr Little said. Another area of concern was a proposal to give the intelligence agencies access to other government databases, such as those maintained by Customs, Immigration and Police.

"I have indicated that is an area that is an issue for us...but we have said to the Government that we will cooperate on trying to get the best possible legislation, but there needs to be good public debate.

"The report has some sensible recommendations in terms of having consistency in legislation and avoiding contradictions between the agencies' powers. The idea of an over-arching national security objective by which the agencies' powers are judged is a good one."

Mr Key, also the Minister of National Security and Intelligence, has welcomed the report. New legislation could be put forward by July, although not all the proposals would necessarily be adopted and the public could have a say through select committee.

The recommendation to allow the GCSB to spy on Kiwis was a technical extension of its powers, but not an extension if the two agencies' powers were viewed together.

"The reason why the reviewers are recommending this is, while it would be possible for the SIS to do it in their own name, they would have to develop a lot more capability...but it is in a very narrow set of circumstances with a very increased level of oversight."

The Prime Minister said other countries had merged their intelligence agencies, but he didn't want to take that step, partly because it was felt Labour would be unlikely to support it.

He believed most New Zealanders would look to the Government to get the balance right between keeping them safe, and inevitable trade-offs with privacy and human rights.

Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei slammed the report's recommendations as representing "the most significant erosion of New Zealanders' right to privacy in modern times".

"Moving New Zealand to an American style culture of fear and spying is not going to keep us safer. Expanding the ability of the state to spy on its citizens makes us all less free and less safe."

United Future leader Peter Dunne said he supported the general move to include more safeguards, but that shouldn't come at the price of increasing the opportunities for surveillance.

He did not agree that allowing the GCSB to spy on New Zealanders was a clarification of existing powers.

"I think it is an extension in terms of the level of surveillance. I think that there is clarification about the application of the rules."

He said that, given the recommended changes, in his view there should instead be one intelligence organisation, that could then be "fine tuned" and "thinned down".

- NZ Herald

Dear NZ – let me say this slowly – you are being conned into fearing ISIS to give spies more powers

the Daily Blog,

9 March, 2016

I’m not going to get angry at NZers who have been conned into giving spies more powers using the bogeyman of lone wolf extremists creating acts of domestic terrorism.

I’m not.

Most NZers work bloody hard every day. They slump down on the couch and numbly flick through the news and current affairs before trying to find the energy to interact with family, do the house chores and collapse into a restless drained slumber.

So with such a narrow view of the world, you’d honestly believe the hype that ISIS are a danger to us and we need vast new surveillance powers and more resources to the GCSB and SIS to protect us.

Look at the breathless editorial in the NZ Herald today trying to trick the Labour Party into supporting the new spy legislation…

When the debate on that bill was raging the word Isis was unknown.

By the end of 2014, the spectre of Isis terrorism was prompting all Western states to adopt stronger measures of surveillance and passport control.

New Zealand allowed the Security Intelligence Service to conduct an emergency surveillance operation for 24 hours without a warrant.

The SIS was also allowed to trespass on private property to watch someone of concern. The act extended the time passports could be cancelled from one year to three years, and allowed the Government to suspend a passport for 10 working days when it needed to act urgently to stop someone travelling.

All these powers are due to expire in April next year. The Cullen-Reddy review has been asked whether they should continue beyond that date. It has also reviewed the powers given the GCSB in 2013 to see New Zealanders’ internet communications.

The review has proceeded in a calmer political climate than previous debates and that should continue.

…using radical Muslims who have been funded by Saudi Arabia and other regional powers in the latest failed middle east bloodfest to give the State more stasi like surveillance powers is not a fucking solution!

The entire premise is based on bullshit.

IF there are NZers who have become radicalised, it’s because of the righteous grievance that ISIS feeds on. Social isolation and racial profiling will do more to tip radicals into terrorists than any other policy we could chase.

This is about vastly increasing capacity so that NZ can use the 5 Eyes technology the NSA has invested into us. This scare mongering.

Look at how Key introduced the term ‘Jihadi Brides’ at the Intelligence and Security Committee. Asked why they were spying on trade partners to get Tim Groser a bloody job, Key and SIS boss Rebecca Kitteridge  were allowed to hijack the meeting and inflame fear around ‘Jihadi Brides’…

And so, there was plenty for the five sitting MPs to delve into. They failed miserably in that duty.

With a review of the security services due to report back in February, MPs had an obligation to get answers on all of these concerns.

Instead, they meekly allowed the public hearing to be hijacked as a press conference – but without the hard questions.

Acting GCSB head Una Jagose was allowed to deflect questions about WTO spying.
Instead Key and SIS boss Rebecca Kitteridge made an ambulance-chasing pitch about jihadi brides and the perceived terror threat to New Zealand.

…so after being caught breaking the law numerous times, getting caught telling the NSA new legislation would allow loop holes for mass surveillance, getting caught planning the interception of all NZ data via the Southern Cross cable, spying on trade partners for Tim Groser, targeting American drone strikes, and a review to see if we aided in CIA torture programs – AFTER ALL THAT – what did we get?

Andrea Vance from TVNZ nails it…

And so what we got was breathless media reporting about ‘jihadi brides’. And little-to-no critical examination of the issues that have dogged both agencies this year.

Dear fellow NZers – you are being conned into fearing an enemy who poses less risk to you than drunk drivers on any given day of the week, to allow the State vast new powers. These buggers can already search our homes and spy on us without any warrant. They can’t currently handle the power they have been given responsibly, so how the hell can the solution to a threat that doesn’t exist be even more power?

We must demand more protections for ourselves from this ever growing ultra secret and corrupt deep state. A modern day stasi doesn’t make our democracy safer, it makes it far more dangerous.