Green Party MP Keith Locke
The Green Party says it is an outrage that one of the
country's spy agencies has changed its name and is going to
have a new domestic security role, without Parliament even
being told about it.
The Government's External Assessments Bureau has changed its
name to the National Assessments Bureau and will in future be
involved in security for major events like the 2011 Rugby
World Cup.
It has previously assessed foreign threats to New Zealand's
security but it has taken on a domestic focus as well after a
review of the effectiveness of all three security
intelligence agencies -- the other two are the SIS and the
GCSB.
The review was carried out by former secretary for foreign
affairs Simon Murdoch, TV One reported last night. It could
not obtain a copy of his report.
The bureau has a staff of 30, a budget of $3.5 million and is
based in the Reserve Bank building in Wellington.
The Green's foreign affairs spokesman, Keith Locke, said
there should have been consultation.
"The External Assessments Bureau has been dedicated to
foreign country assessments, and now the Government is
transforming it into a domestic spy agency," he said.
"There has been no demonstration of why the two existing
intelligence agencies concerned with domestic intelligence,
the police and the Security Intelligence Service, are not
covering the field adequately."
Prime Minister John Key confirmed the bureau's changed role.
"Of course we would engage our intelligence agencies to make
sure that we can provide the appropriate level of protection
for New Zealanders and international visitors who come for
the Rugby World Cup," he said.
"In that regard it is a national assessments bureau as
opposed to purely external."
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