GCSB Director General Andrew Clark. Photo: VNP/Louis Collins
The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) spy agency says it is providing round-the-clock threat intelligence updates on the Iran war.
The GCSB, along with its partner agency NZ Security Intelligence Service (SIS), appeared at a Parliamentary select committee for their annual reviews on Wednesday.
GCSB Director-General Andrew Clark told MPs it was a very volatile geopolitical environment.
"Conflict and tensions have sometimes arisen with little notice and this week's major conflict in the Middle East is no exception, and our team has been providing round-the-clock threat intelligence updates to our customers, especially to the NZDF and MFAT," Clark said.
In general, the bureau, which collects 'signals' intelligence, was taking a more proactive approach to detecting and disrupting threats while coping with the "rapid pace" of change in "disruptive technologies".
"In this changing environment, we've provided intelligence relating to terrorist activity and to foreign state activity where that could threaten the safety of New Zealanders and international partners."
Greens MP Teanau Tuiono asked them, in light of the war, to clarify the nature of NZ's intelligence sharing with partners, including the US, in the Five Eyes partnership.
The agencies replied they had tight controls and could withhold intelligence if legal, policy and human rights settings were not met.
"We have good control around whether... to withhold intelligence," said Clark.
"That includes even where one of the partners might want to share some of our intelligence with another partner outside of the Five Eyes, those same controls and settings and provisions apply, and we will do the consideration."
National MP Nicola Willis told RNZ on Wednesday the country did not have access "to the intelligence, the background, the information which has led the US and Israel to make these strikes", when asked if the war was a breach of international law.
On Monday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said only the US and Israel had the intelligence to back up their attacks and New Zealand won't be asking to see it.
"We're not party to that information or that intelligence they may have," he said.
Five Eyes encompasses NZ, the US, Australia, the UK and Canada.
It has been coming up with new ways to cooperate, such as a federated Five Eyes space system that the NZ Defence Force has run two experiments for.
Clark said they shared intelligence every day with Five Eyes partners that was of "really significant" value to New Zealand in combating threats such as cyber, terrorist and organised crime.
SIS director-general Andrew Hampton told the select committee the country engaged on its own terms with Five Eyes partners, and had to be vigilant to get the benefit of that without compromising core values.
"We cannot ask them to do anything we couldn't legally do ourselves, and vice versa," Hampton said.
"We need to do regular human rights assessments of all parties who we cooperate with, including our Five Eyes partners, in order to work with them."
The agencies were under the independent scrutiny of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, the two chiefs added.
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