NZSIS response to IGIS inquiry report into class warrants

Attributable to NZSIS Director-General Andrew Hampton:

Today the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security released his report looking at the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) use of class warrants.

The Intelligence and Security Act 2017 provides for both class and individual warrants. In either case the Minister and Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants must be satisfied that the warrant is necessary and proportionate, to contribute to the protection of New Zealand’s national security, before it can be issued. 

As the Inspector-General acknowledges, class warrants are available for the Service to use under legislation, and based on advice received externally and internally, I am assured our use of class warrants is compliant with the Act.

The particular case examined by the Inspector-General related to a very small number of individuals within a defined class, and who were targeted over concerns around terrorist attack planning.

It would be irresponsible of me, given the increasingly complex and dynamic threat environment that New Zealand faces, not to seek to use the full range of legislative tools available to the NZSIS.

While we have continued to seek class warrants, we are mindful of the Inspector-General’s observations and have made several changes to documentation when seeking a warrant.

In issuing the most recent class warrants, the previous Minister and Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants were cognisant of the Inspector-General’s views as outlined in his report into class warrants and his 2022-2023 annual report.

As the Inspector-General has noted, the issue of class warrants was examined by the periodic review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, which acknowledged the importance of class warrants, especially in the context of threat discovery activities and when dealing with groups, such as terrorist groups.

The Government response to the review of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 is currently ongoing.