SIS apologises for illegal action

Spy agency action over Hager source ruled unlawful

New Zealand’s domestic spy agency has apologised to investigative journalist Nicky Hager for unlawfully helping the Defence Force try to uncover one of his sources.

The Acting Inspector General of Intelligence and Security has upheld a complaint by Hager against the NZSIS (Security Intelligence Service) over help it gave to the NZDF in attempting to figure out whether a military officer they suspected was a source for the 2011 book Other People’s Wars.

The book covered New Zealand’s participation in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The spy agency’s efforts included collecting two months’ of Hager’s home and mobile phone records. The source was never identified.

NZSIS argued it was trying to investigate whether there had been espionage.

But acting Inspector General Madeleine Laracy ruled the activity unlawful.

“NZSIS provided that assistance despite a lack of grounds for reasonable suspicion that any activity had occurred that was a matter of national security. I have been unable to find that the service showed the kind of caution I consider proper, for an intelligence agency in a free and democratic society, about launching any investigation into a journalist’s sources.”

She said an apology was owed to Hager.

In a statement, Director General of Security Rebecca Kitteridge, the head of the SIS, said the agency was sorry. “NZSIS has apologised to Mr Hager for these failings, any impact they had on him, and any distress that has been caused. I reiterate that apology to Mr Hager publicly.”

Hager said he wanted the SIS to introduce policies to stop them targeting media and journalists in the same way.

“I would rather get on with my work than fight these fights, but this issue needs to be fixed for the future,” he said. New Zealand Police last year apologised to Hager and paid him “substantial damages” over an unlawful 2014 raid on his home, in which they tried to find a hacker behind the emails that formed the book