Government not ruling out merging spy agencies in national security overhaul

The Government is not ruling out merging New Zealand’s two spy agencies as it continues to overhaul the national security system, four years after the Christchurch mosque terror attack.

Cabinet papers about the overhaul show the Government was considering if a merger of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was needed, though this was lower priority compared to reforms such as the creation of a dedicated national security agency.

Intelligence Agencies Minister Andrew Little said while a merger was not an active consideration, “it’s never off the table”.

“The reality is that, in terms of intelligence gathering, the distinction is increasingly blurred between human intelligence and signals intelligence. Both rely on each other now to do their job effectively. So I think it’s a valid point to consider at some point.”

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Little confirmed the Government still intended, in principle, to create a new national security agency that would oversee policy and strategy acted on by operational agencies, such as the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), police, and Customs.

A new agency was a major recommendation of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque terror attacks, which was highly critical of a lack of clear leadership in the national security apparatus and counter-terrorism efforts.

The Government will next month, more than two years after the royal commission, receive advice on the final stage of creating a national security strategy, and the new agency.

Cabinet has already decided to reduce the focus of the national security system which currently considers wide-ranging threats from terrorism to climate change.

The system will no longer take an “all hazards, all risks” approach, conventionally used by emergency response organisation, and instead concern itself with “malicious threats”.

“It is significant. Trying to build a national security strategy that covered off every conceivable risks, both natural and human made, was just a huge undertaking, and actually, the response to the different forms of risks are different,” Little said.

He said the system would focus on “traditional” national security threats such as: espionage, terrorism, foreign influence, foreign interference.

Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) royal commission chairperson Abdur Razzaq ​said he was “quite sold” on the national security policy work being done by the Government.

“I was one of the most critical people about this … no other country has had this kind of comprehensive approach, and that’s what makes it very different.”

Razzaq said he remained concerned a new national security agency might become “a political football” and the Government may not follow through with it, like the hate speech legislation, as Prime Minister Chris Hipkins reprioritised policies in advance of the 2023 election.

He said the new agency and strategy would also need adequate recourses, and sufficient democratic oversight. A robust system, not a cheap system, would prevent future problems.

“This one act of terrorism has cost the country over half a billion dollars … The whole idea is this should not be seen as a cost.”

‘Malicious threats’ the focus

Hipkin’s office this month declined an Official Information Act request seeking advice and briefings received since on national security reform, citing the need to “maintain the confidentiality of advice tendered by or to ministers and officials”.

Details of Cabinet’s decisions have been outlined in two papers on the reform’s progress, proactively released in October.

The public Cabinet papers, brought to Cabinet by then-Minister for National Security Jacinda Ardern, said in order to “enhance integration” between the SIS and GCSB, a merger of the two agencies was being considered.

“While a merger has not been identified as a high priority, any flow-on implications of wider change or opportunities to improve integration should not be ruled out at this stage,” the paper read.

Another paper said the “all hazards, all risks” approach made it difficult to differentiate national security from “all of the things the Government is expected to provide as part of its broader social contract with New Zealanders”.

Cabinet ministers agreed instead the system should be concerned with “malicious threats to our national security interests”.

According to the paper, Cabinet would be considering a finalised version of the national security strategy in April, before it was shared with international partners, and then published for the public.