Intelligence review - a rubberstamp

Headed by Michael Cullen and Patsy Reddy the mandatory review of all security agencies and security legislation was finally announced on Wednesday 13 May.

The review will be a rubberstamp for the government's mass surveillance, the Five-Eyes and the US's endless 'war on terrorism.'

Through recent revelations by Edward Snowden and Nicky Hager it has now been proven that the GCSB is without doubt part of the US's National Security Agency apparatus and New Zealand is an active member of the Five-Eyes. The first few months of 2015 have seen more information coming to light about this country and its role in the Five-Eyes (also known as UKUSA) and the use of the GCSB by the government to ensure political power and control is maintained by them.
Snowden has released documents showing that:

• the GCSB spies on Pacific countries and everyone residing, passing through or holidaying in that area (leaked 8 March), 
• the GCSB spies on Vietnam, China, India, Pakistan, South American nations and a range of other countries (leaked 11 March),
• the GCSB spied on Tim Groser's rivals for the position of director-general of the WTO. The GCSB operation involved covert surveillance of candidates from Brazil, Costa Rica, Ghana, Jordan, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico and South Korea.
• the GCSB spies on Bangladesh and shares that data with the Bangladeshi government (leaked 16 April), 
• the GCSB had plans to hack a data link between the Auckland Chinese consulate and the Chinese Visa Office, five minutes down the street (leaked 17 April), and there will be more to come.

John Key has admitted that it is likely that information gathered and supplied by the GCSB to the NSA has played a role in enabling the US military to carry out drone strikes that have killed hundreds of civilians, including children.

The SIS also has a disturbing history. Release of archives in the first decade of this century showed that the SIS spies on political dissidents, children and vulnerable refugee communities. Last year, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security investigated and upheld allegations that Key's office had used information from the Security Intelligence Service spy agency to gain a political advantage in the 2011 general election.

Both the SIS and the GCSB are a dangerous threat to the security of ordinary people. We don't need a review to tell us what we already know. OASIS calls for the disestablishment of both.

Drone Die-In at NZ National Party Conference

Demanding the dismantling of the GCSB and the exiting of NZ from the 'Five Eyes Club', people opposing New Zealand´s involvement in the so-called "drone wars" staged a die-in outside the annual National Party Conference in Wellington during John Key´s closing speech Sunday, 29 June.

Motivated by the Prime Minister´s recent comments that he is "quite comfortable" to provide GCSB assistance to the US to murder "bad people" and his absurd comment that he thought it was legitimate to "prosecute" New Zealand citizens and others with Hellfire missiles, the "dirty wars" was taken to the doors of the National Party.
 
At the conference, a symbolic drone struck down those who were "targeted" as well as bystanders. 

"Just like real drones, this one produces plenty of collateral damage," said Valerie Morse, member of OASIS. "When John Key says he is comfortable with drone strikes, he is really saying he is comfortable with extra-judicial assassinations, because that is what they are."

"New Zealand is complicit in the US´s dirty wars around the globe. Through our involvement in the Five Eyes, information gathered by the GCSB is shared with the NSA."

"The US is waging an undeclared war in countries like Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan and probably soon Iraq."

"The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been given a free reign to kill any target that it believes to be a possible threat to US security, without any accountability or control."

"Since Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama has taken office, more than 2600 people have been killed in more than 400 drone strikes. Is that really something anyone can be comfortable with?"

"New Zealand must leave the Five Eyes club and the GCSB must be dismantled." 

The Never Ending Drone Wars and NZ

The fatal spying warrant

On May 19, 2014, prime minister John Key formally acknowledged that the GCSB has been, and presumably still is, providing information to the US which is used in the so-called drone wars. He said “it is almost certain” that the GSCB’s information was used “in identifying targets” for drone attacks in Afghanistan and possibly in other countries.

However, he was “quite comfortable” with it and said that everything the GCSB did was within the law.

What sounds like another one of Key’s blanket assurances about the lawfulness of a government agency without knowing anything about it, is in fact a serious admission of involvement by the NZ government in a US government assassination programme.

The issue came to the fore because of revelations that a NZ citizen, Abu Suhaib al-Australi, was killed in Yemen in a drone strike in November 2013, and that Key had issued a warrant to the GCSB to spy on him. Although US officials say that al-Australi wasn’t the main target but rather “collateral damage” (along with 4 other people), it’s likely that the GCSB’s information was used in this killing.

All that was needed to convince the prime minister to issue the fatal warrant to the GCSB to spy on al-Australi was that “he had gone [to Yemen] and gone to a terrorist training camp” and was “reported to be an al-Qaida foot soldier” (TV3, 16 April 2014). Other people say, he was teaching English in Yemen.

Normally, the killing of a NZ citizen by another government without any form of trial would be the cause of moderate to serious diplomatic rows, but in this case it is simply accepted. NZ is so far involved in the “Five Eyes” (the spying agreement between the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and NZ) that the government blindly accepts the US’s jurisdiction over NZ citizens in a foreign country.

Dirty Wars: film screening & discussion

 

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars.

Join OASIS and Peace Action Wellington for this compelling movie and discussion night at 19 Tory Street, Wellington, on Saturday 14 June at 6pm, and find out more about New Zealand's role in the 'Dirty Wars.'

Key admits role in illegal drone wars

Media Release: Key admits role in illegal drone wars

From: OASIS - Organising Against State Intelligence & Surveillance

Date: 20 May 2014

"John Key must be held responsible for New Zealand´s involvement in the US´s illegal secret drone war that is murdering thousands of people," says OASIS member Valerie Morse. "His proud admission that the GCSB has been providing information used by the US in drone wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere shows what a sycophant he is."

John Key today admitted that the GCSB is supporting the US state sanctioned assassination programme. He said that the GCSB provided information to the United States that was used to conduct drone strikes in Afghanistan and possibly elsewhere. 

"Under the continued guise of `fighting terrorism´ or `bringing stability´, the US has simply replaced the heavy tanks with which it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan with drones that strike in any country where it suspects `enemies´," said Ms Morse. "New Zealand and the Five Eyes signals intelligence partners are complicit in this assassination programme."

"The US drone war has no legal basis under international law. The UN´s Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, has said that the use of drones is not combat as much as `targeted killing´. He has repeatedly tried to get the US to explain how it justifies the use of drones to target and kill individuals under international law.  The 2011 murder of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki and his son in Yemen caused serious debate in the US, and the murder of Daryl Jones should do the very same here."

"John Key obviously thinks the US government has the right to decide who - including NZ citizens - is allowed to live and who has to die."

"On June 14, we are calling for NZ actions as part of the international day against the drone wars and against the surveillance state. If the National or Labour parties imagine that being part of the US´s `Dirty Wars´ is perfectly OK, they clearly need a little education. Thousands of New Zealanders took the streets last year to protest the extension of GCSB powers of surveillance. People are totally opposed to the involvement of the GCSB with the NSA and their mass surveillance programmes."

ENDS