Top-secret group advises New Zealand’s leaders in darkest days

A top-secret committee forms at times of national crisis to guide New Zealand leaders in our darkest days.

Odesc (pronounced “O-desk”) is the Officials Committee for Domestic and External Security Co-ordination.

It is made up of chief executives of those agencies you might expect respond to incidents such as the shootings in Christchurch, the city’s earthquakes, the Pike River mine disaster or the Rena oil spill.

The difference is, when an urgent Odesc meeting is formed, those individual chiefs don’t stand alone.

Years of expertise and training converges — quickly — in the highsecurity bunker at the Beehive to bend their collective intelligence and will to the safety and security of NZ.

It did so on Friday straight after the Christchurch shootings and continues to do so, making decisions of national significance which shape our response to a crisis and how we, as a nation, will emerge.

“They drop whatever they are doing. When the whistle goes up, everybody runs,” says a former senior public servant who has been present at a number of Odesc meetings.

Such an alert pulls in Police Commissioner Mike Bush, NZ Security Intelligence Service director general Rebecca Kitteridge, Government Communications Security Bureau director general Andrew Hampton, Defence Force chief Air Marshal Kevin Short, State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade chief executive Chris Seed, among others.

All are within walking distance of the Beehive — Wellington’s close public service hub serves Odesc well for gathering quickly.

“Bringing seven or eight chief executives together has great value. It also has costs because these are very busy people,” says the former public servant. “You don’t have time to sit around . . . It’s not for the fainthearted.”

It means for the system to work, meetings must extract as much value as possible before Odesc members return to their agencies.

The Beehive bunker, where the meetings take place, is called the National Crisis Management Centre. The nerve centre of Government has secure communications facilities and protection from outside surveillance.

The meetings are chaired by the chief executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, currently Brooke Barrington.

DPMC’s job is to connect the Prime Minister’s office — Jacinda Ardern’s staff — to the rest of government.

Having gathered in the bunker, the chief executive of the agency at the forefront of the response goes on to lead the meetings. In this case, the task falls to Bush.

“One person will be the lead agency and the rest of us will do all we can to help the lead agency get the best out of it for New Zealand.

“Everything Mike Bush has done in his career has been brought to bear in what he has been doing in the last few days,” says the ex-public servant.

The situations with which Odesc grapples are not all unfamiliar to those on the committee. There are constant exercises to develop response strategies — biosecurity, environmental disasters, mass arrivals of refugees, pandemics and terrorism have all been gamed out, including role-playing simulated events. “You spend your whole time preparing for something you hope won’t happen.

“This is a real terrorist incident. This will be a first.”

Those in the meeting room are supported by a phalanx of officials waiting outside — the specialised expertise on which Odesc relies.

Inside, the seriousness of events is “palpable”. There is a clear realisation of the sheer weight of responsibility — members know their presence at the meeting signals a time of crisis.

They are clear national security rests with them and the decisions they make in that room. “Intelligence is absolutely critical.” Each crisis throws up unexpected challenges. In the current situation, the livestream of the attack on Facebook was likely an aspect of the event which defied best preparation.

Decisions are made, plans are formed. There’s no time for secondguessing or checking operational steps with elected officials.

The former public servant spoke to the Herald to give people an understanding of how the Government responds in times of crisis, and with a desire to say nothing to affect the critical work Odesc is now doing.

“It’s a very practical expression of the way our democracy works. The fact it is not that well known in the public domain does not matter. It’s a very good thing for ministers and prime ministers to have everyone [at] that table and working as one.”

Yesterday morning, Barrington and Bush were expected to brief Cabinet — to give our elected leaders the best advice our entire Government has to offer on what has happened and what will happen next.

And when Ardern speaks to the nation, she will do so as a Prime Minister informed and supported by the best our public service can offer.

When the whistle goes up, everybody runs.

Former public servant