SIS defends terror threat miss after public tipoff
The Security Intelligence Service says it cannot monitor the ‘‘millions of pages of posts made online every day’’, while confirming its spies had a hand in stopping a terror threat made against two Christchurch mosques.
Intelligence Agencies Minister Andrew Little told Stuff the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) was involved and he defended the agencies against suggestions the online threats had been missed – as it was a member of the public who tipped off the police.
Police arrested a 27-year-old man after conducting armed raids at two Christchurch properties on Thursday evening.
The man was charged with threatening to kill and was granted name suppression by the Christchurch District Court yesterday morning. The man allegedly made a series of online posts threatening to use car bombs to kill people at the Masjid An-nur (Al Noor Mosque) and the Linwood Islamic Centre on March 15, the second anniversary of the mosque massacre.
Police have confirmed a member of the public tipped them off to concerning messages on the anonymous online message board 4chan, known to be a hub for Far-right extremism.
Yesterday afternoon, Little said he did not have any information on the man arrested and could not say whether there remained an ongoing threat.
‘‘I can’t talk about any specific identified threat but we know that the threat of extreme violent expression, white supremacist, and white identitarianism, among other threats, are threats in New Zealand and they are considered in the kind of day-to-day monitoring of our threatscape.’’
He was also unwilling to say whether the SIS was aware of the threat prior to the public tip-off but said he was satisfied the agencies were ‘‘across the threats’’.
‘‘To those who say: This only happened because of a member of the public, bear in mind that the intelligence agencies operate under a legal framework that requires them to have mandated legal authority to act.
‘‘They don’t monitor every New Zealand citizen and resident.
‘‘They don’t monitor the internet as it presents in New Zealand.
‘‘They don’t monitor every accessible website or social media account available in New Zealand.
‘‘They are dependent on leads. ‘‘Our intelligence agencies act on leads. Regardless of how information got to the police, the SIS assisted the police and that assistance, along with the police action, is what led to the apprehension of a person who is now before the courts.’’
Little said there were ‘‘thousands of websites’’ where violent, Right-wing extremism could be found – not just 4chan.
‘‘Not only that, there are gaming platforms that are also a place for conversations about white, Right-wing extremism.’’
A SIS spokesman said the agency could not do its job without information from the public.
‘‘That is exactly what happened in this instance ...
‘‘We are aware that this matter is now before the court, so we are limited in any comment we can make about this specific case.’’
The agency could not ‘‘disclose details of specific areas of operational focus as to do so could help people we are concerned about hide their activities’’, the spokesman said in a statement.
‘‘We can say however that neither the NZ SIS, nor any other government agency, can monitor the many millions of pages of posts made online every day, often in closed groups.’’
Little said he could not confirm whether the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) also assisted in the investigation. The GCSB conducts signals intelligence, including electronic monitoring, whereas the SIS conducts human intelligence, or collecting information from people.
The national terrorism threat level remained at medium, which meant a terrorist attack was ‘‘feasible and could well occur’’.