Former minister of GCSB frustrated by agency failure
Former GCSB minister Chris Finlayson says he’s “very unhappy” to learn the spy agency was hosting a foreign spying system without telling him.
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was criticised in a report by its watchdog on Thursday for its lack of due diligence and failure to inform its minister about the system, which may have contributed to the foreign country’s military targeting from 2012.
Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Brendan Horsley, who provides oversight of the GCSB, said the system was installed at a GCSB facility in 2012 and selected and transmitted “certain signals” collected by the GCSB to the foreign agency, which could be used to help locate remote targets.
The GCSB had agreed to host the system in 2012 after two years of consideration, but did not inform ministers of the agreement, and the bureau’s senior leadership “lost sight” of the system until it was rediscovered in 2020.
Finlayson, who was among ministers for the GCSB that were not informed, said “this kind of error is unacceptable”.
He was in charge of the agencies from 2014 to 2017, the years after the GCSB was discovered to be unlawfully intercepting the communications of Kim Dotcom, an event which prompted years of overhaul of the intelligence agencies and their legal mandate.
Starting with John Key’s National government and continuing under Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government, the GCSB has received considerable investment to improve and take on more responsibility. Budget documents show the GCSB’s funding baseline had increased by 128% over five years to $234.47 million in 2022/23.
“What irritates me is that the poor old politicians have to go in and cover for these guys, and I had to bear the brunt of it,” Finlayson said.
“I had all the great and the good ... all saying that we were creating a Stasi society.
“So we go into bat, do all these things for them, and then find that this kind of cockup occurs. It's not good enough.”
Finlayson said he agreed with former prime minister Helen Clark that there needed to be “disciplinary consequences” for anyone working on the relationship responsible for the handling of the foreign intelligence system.
Clark called for consequences on RNZ, but did not respond to a request for comment by deadline on Friday.
Former Intelligence Agencies Minister Andrew Little said he was notified of the issue with the foreign spying system in 2020, and he agreed with senior officials it was the “right course of action” to refer the matter to the watchdog.
“At the heart of it was intelligence sharing. The intelligence gathering was done by the GCSB, and the capability in the arrangement was over the sharing of it, and more or less it was close to an automatic process.
“Our intelligence agencies are in the business, amongst other things, of sharing intelligence, not just with Five Eyes partners, but others as well.
“Although there was some opportunity to control what was shared under the arrangement, and through the capability, I think the point that the inspector general seems to be making and have concluded from his examination is that there actually wasn't much oversight at all.“
He said the sharing of the intelligence had not concerned him, but the lack of clarity about the mandate for the system was a concern.
"Although intelligence sharing is both mandated by the statute, but also ministers do sign off on on specific intelligence sharing exercises, then means or the method for sharing in this particular particularly clear case, wasn't notified to ministers, including me.“
He said he shared Finlayson’s frustration, but the changes that started under that National Government which he continued to oversee, including a culture change, reassured him the likelihood of this happening again “is now quite remote”.
Little said he could not comment further on what the foreign agency’s system was, because it was classified.
GCSB director-general Andrew Clark said in a statement on Thursday the review of “what could be described as a ‘historical issue” would help “refine our current processes that ensure we act with propriety in everything we do”.
A GCSB spokesman said the organisation had no further comment on Friday.
Intelligence Agencies Minister Judith Collins was again unavailable for an interview on Friday.
The GCSB alongside the Security Intelligence Service will appear in front of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee for their annual review hearing tomorrow.
“So we go into bat, do all these things for them, and then find that this kind of cockup occurs. It’s not good enough.”
Former GCSB minister Chris Finlayson