Investigative journalist Nicky Hager, in 1996, wrote a book in which he exposed the workings of New Zealand’s very secretive spy agencies, the GCSB included. This book, Secret Power, despite the passing of more than 15 years, is now more relevant than ever given that these same agencies have been proven to be acting corruptly and are clearly out of control. The excerpt below is from Chapter 6 (Pg 92):
A minute’s walk from Parliament in central Wellington, down a small side street, stands a very ordinary government office block set back from the road between the National Library and the National Archives. This is the Freyberg Building where, above nine storeys of military and other government offices, the headquarters of the Government Communications Security Bureau is located.
Looking up at the building you can see the tell-tale security curtains on the 10th to 14th floors. You can also see cooling units on the 11th and 12th floors, giving away the location of some computers. If you visit after dark you can see that the lights stay on all night in the corner of the top floor, the site of the 24-hour communications centre.
That is not much information. But those two paragraphs have probably told you more about what is inside New Zealand’s largest intelligence organisation than you could find in the neighbouring National Library or National Archives, the two great repositories of information about New Zealand.
Like all the UKUSA intelligence organisations, the GCSB goes to a lot of effort to ensure that the public has no idea what goes on beyond those curtained windows. The following chapters provide a rare glimpse inside this…….Download and read the entire book (Pdf)
Nicky Hager’s website is very much worth looking through, the link can be found in the bibliography below.
Click image to view TV3 clip with Nicky Hager
Bibliography:
FBI role in Big Brother’s sharper eyes, ears (Fairfax)
http://www.nickyhager.info/category/national-party/
http://www.nickyhager.info/category/major-investigations/
There’s actually only one John Key, just not the one on show
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