Intelligence warrants

Intelligence warrants are required before we are able to carry out activities which would otherwise be unlawful.

Intelligence Warrants

The Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (the Act) sets out strict requirements for us to follow when applying for a warrant and undertaking activities authorised by a warrant. All activities carried out under warrant must be:  

  • In accordance with New Zealand law and all the human rights obligations recognised by New Zealand law
  • Necessary for the NZSIS to perform its functions under the Act
  • Proportionate to the intended purpose
  • The least intrusive means of reasonably achieving the purpose of the warrant
  • Politically neutral.

We must also take all reasonably practicable steps to minimise the impact of the proposed activity on any members of the public.

All warrants are issued by the Minister Responsible for NZSIS, and depending on the type of warrant may also require approval of a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants (a former High Court Judge).

Warrants are reviewed retrospectively by a member of the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, which provides independent oversight of both the NZSIS and the GCSB.

The Act allows two types of intelligence warrants:

Type 1 warrants are jointly issued by the Minister responsible for the NZSIS and a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants.

These warrants authorise activities that would otherwise be unlawful for the purpose of collecting information about, or to do any other thing directly in relation to, New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.

Type 1 warrants can be obtained either for:

  1. a national security objective in relation to one of harms listed in the Act (including terrorism, espionage, sabotage, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, anything that may be relevant to serious crime, threats to information infrastructures and threats to the international security, operations of the Government of New Zealand and/or sovereignty of New Zealand); or
  2. other objectives, in relation to person(s) reasonably suspected to act for a foreign person, organisation or terrorist group.

Type 2 warrants are issued by the responsible Minister for the NZSIS alone and provide authority for otherwise unlawful acts in regard to foreign citizens who are not permanent residents of New Zealand.