Page 41 - Security Intelligence Service News Today

The spy agency took two years to implement a major shift in how it targeted threats, but once it did, the rewards were almost immediate. NZ Security Intelligence Service director Rebecca Kitteridge speaks after the release of the final report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques. Photo: RNZ / Sam Rillstone The Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) got 10 leads on right-wing extremists in the lead-up to the Christchurch mosque attacks. This came w...

The report also quoted anonymous Australian officials who said they were surprised by Mahuta’s speech on Monday, particularly her comments afterward about New Zealand telling its Five Eyes partners it was “uncomfortable” with any expansion of the intelligence-sharing arrangement’s remit. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne receives a hongi from Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta during a mihi whakatau, or welcome speech, at Parliament on Thursday....

The government’s recently proposed changes to New Zealand’s counter-terrorism legislation are focusing attention on how best to equip law enforcement agencies with the tools to prevent the kind of atrocity witnessed in Christchurch on March 15, 2019. However, by broadening the definition of a terrorist act to one intended to induce “fear” rather than “terror” in a population, there is a risk the new law may go too far. Fear is highly subjective and the legislation seems to leave it...

Balance lacking in surveillance trends - Security expert Phil Pennington © RNZ / Samuel Rillstone The Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has adopted new terminology from its Canadian counterpart to talk about threats. This means using "Faith Motivated extremism" to describe one end of the threat spectrum, and "Identity Motivated Violent Extremism" to describe the end that white supremacists inhabit. In its recent annual review, SIS director-general Rebecca Kitteridge said thi...

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff SIS director-general Rebecca Kitteridge said government departments had been warned to watch out for infiltration from the far-right. Analysis: The impact of Covid-19 in accelerating radicalisation and fuelling conspiracy theories could be felt for years to come, spy agencies say. Intelligence agencies say there is a "realistic possibility" the Covid-19 pandemic will accelerate online radicalisation over the next year and "have a detrimental effect on the broader threat en...

Joseph Johnson/Stuff Candles and other symbols of support form part of the memorial, including thousands of bunches of flowers, on Christchurch’s Rolleston Ave in the wake of the mosque massacres. OPINION: A lot has changed in the past two years. Since 51 people were murdered in a single afternoon at two mosques in Christchurch, we’ve changed as a nation. The impacts of the attacks have radiated in a thousand different directions, starting with that day -- this very date, two years ago. Th...

Intelligence agencies missed an online threat against Christchurch's mosque, but expecting them to spot every threat made in cyberspace is "bizarre", an expert says.

LEFT-WING NAIVETY is nothing new, but its power to astound and enrage has not diminished. The scorn heaped upon the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) for failing to intercept a recent threat to the Christchurch Muslim community is a case in point. The official version of this event has the Police receiving a tip-off from a member of the public. Someone who just happened to be hanging-out in the digital neighbourhood of 4-Chan’s most dangerous white supremacists stumbled, quite accidentally,...

Muslim groups are calling for more action and accountability over the mosque attacks in a new report out today. They want immediate action on a dozen of the Royal Commissions 44 recommendations including mandatory reporting of firearm injuries and better training in security agencies. The 42-page report from the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) is in response to the governments series of 28 hui nationwide last month. Some Muslims have dismissed these hui as a talkfest, ...

Power Play - Trans-Tasman relations have taken a dramatic turn for the worse after a hospital pass from Australia over a suspected terrorist and two young children detained at the Turkish border. The New Zealand woman, right, and two children were taken to court at Hatay under security measures. Photo: AFP / Anadolu Agency Named by the ABC as Suhayra Aden and "known" to the respective intelligence and law enforcement authorities, the woman had dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship, so i...