SIS ON DRIVE TO RECRUIT SPIES,

JOB openings for spies are on the rise – and among the next round of recruits could be someone you know. The rise of Islamic State (Isis) has sparked the growth in jobs at the Security Intelligence Service, and director Rebecca Kitteridge said one of the main qualifications was life experience.

‘‘We have people who used to be school principals, lawyers, retailers, engineers, whatever . . . very diverse backgrounds.’’

But expect the unexpected at your job interview – something Kitteridge knows about first-hand.

She put herself through the assessment process to get a taste of what would-be recruits were faced with. It included role playing, where she had to enter a room, strike up a conversation with its occupants and ‘‘elicit certain information from people’’ in a way that did not raise any red flags with them.

‘‘There were several [people] I had to talk to before I found the right one, and I had to remember everything he told me.’’

But would-be recruits should be aware of the stringent security vetting. Every aspect of their lives will be picked apart by expert vetters.

‘‘[They ] have to provide a lot of financial information and they get asked all kinds of intrusive questions about the state of their marriages and relationships and their drinking habits and associations . . . is there anything that’s going to mean they are vulnerable or are not trustworthy to have access to the level of information they have access to?’’

As for Kitteridge’s assessment, she passed after identifying the correct target and eliciting useful information. SIS annual reports show fulltime equivalent staff number more than 200.

The drive to recruit more comes after the Government pumped an extra $7 million into the intelligence agency off the back of legislation targeting socalled foreign fighters, or Kiwis attracted to the Isis cause.

The Government says between 30 and 40 people are being actively watched. Kitteridge said numbers remained in that range. The legislation includes the power to cancel the passports of those seeking to join Isis forces.

Kitteridge said the SIS had been grappling with an increasingly unstable geopolitical picture and the aggressive social media campaign run by Isis to spread its reach. That included New Zealand, where the message spread by Isis might be abhorrent to most people but resonated with a small group of individuals.

‘‘What [Isis] espouse is not something that would appeal to anybody who is moderate or normal . . . and it does seem to me that the brand is about shocking, brutal behaviour. Sickening behaviour, actually. And there are people who are drawn to that because it is brutal and sickening.’’

There were people in New Zealand who watched the material and got excited by it. she said. ‘‘[They are] saying this is great and let’s see what sort of thing we could do that would be similar.’’

The SIS had been ‘‘recruiting as fast as we can’’ to keep ahead of the foreign fighter threat, and had also been recruiting on the ‘‘operation enablement side’’, which included listening devices and ‘‘other kit’’.

‘Is there anything that’s going to mean they are vulnerable or not trustworthy?’

Rebecca Kitteridge