The dirty politics behind the SIS apology to Nicky Hager
Bryce Edwards16:36, Dec 01 2022 - Stuff.co.nz
NZSIS boss Rebecca Kitteridge initially denied any wrongdoing over its spying against Nicky Hager
Dr Bryce Edwards is Political Analyst in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the director of the Democracy Project.
OPINION:Do New Zealand state spies unlawfully surveil the government’s political critics? Do they spy on critical journalists?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes. And the government domestic security agency has been forced to apologise for one instance when they were caught spying on investigative journalist Nicky Hager.
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has paid Hager $66,400 in compensation and legal fees for breaching his privacy, and made an extraordinary apology to him.
In return, Hager has agreed not to take the Government to court.
The payment and apology were for unlawfully obtaining two months of Hager’s phone records in an attempt to uncover the sources Hager used in writing his 2011 book, Other People’s Wars.
The publication was about New Zealand’s involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The book focused on the role of New Zealand military and intelligence activity that caused the deaths of civilians in Operation Burnham, and was based on information obtained from confidential sources.
Hager’s win is not just a victory for him personally, but more generally for freedom of the press and the ongoing vigilance against state authoritarianism.
Dirty politics from security services?
It was the NZ Defence Force that sought to discover who had provided Hager with the information for his book.
It apparently suspected a particular Defence Force officer, but failed to find any evidence in a search of the employee’s home and mobile phone records.
So it then requested that the SIS obtain Hager’s personal phone records on the basis of the journalist being involved in “espionage”.
The SIS obtained Hager’s phone records, but the information proved useless in helping the Defence Force find his source.
Hager suspected that he was under surveillance, and when he officially requested information about this from SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge, she refused to confirm or deny anything.
Hager took the issue to the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, which oversees the SIS as well as the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
The SIS was forced to confirm the spying against Hager, but Kitteridge denied any wrongdoing, arguing the surveillance was justified on the basis of Hager being involved in potential “espionage” and because he was prejudicing New Zealand’s national security.
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security ruled in Hager’s favour. Three years later, the SIS has finally agreed to compensation and a proper apology.
The extraordinary apology from the spies
The SIS issued a statement that is worth quoting at length: “Investigative journalists such as Mr Hager play an important role in society, including to provide an additional check on executive functions and powers.
Let's just take a moment to digest the following quote from NZSIS;
“The role of Mr Hager is considerably more difficult given his subject matter of expertise and the difficulties of obtaining information which is protected by various and numerous confidentiality mechanisms.
“NZSIS recognises that its actions in 2012 could have resulted in a chilling effect on such important work. Accordingly, NZSIS apologises unreservedly for breaching Mr Hager’s rights”.
In addition to the apology, the SIS said: “We recognise the important role that journalists play in a free, open and democratic society – the very society the New Zealand intelligence agencies exist to uphold.”
One of Hager’s lawyers, Steven Price, responded to say that, “it is nice to see this recognition by the NZSIS of the importance of journalism to our democracy… Journalists need to be able to convey to the public important information from well-placed sources.
“That process should not be undermined by intelligence officials trying to unlawfully ferret out those sources.”
There is a need to have investigative journalism, and the media in general, as a properly functioning mechanism to hold the powerful to account, including the defence forces.
This case shows the SIS has clearly undermined that mechanism.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/6142022/Spotlight-on-New-Zealand-at-war
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https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/103182817/sis-critic-nicky-hager-among-group-appointed-to-keep-a-check-on-spy-agencies?rm=a