SIS

New Zealand's spy watchdog has confirmed it is still looking into whether New Zealand was involved in an American CIA detention and interrogation programme.

Until just a few years ago, the SIS security clearance systems were not secure enough, the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security has found.

Very few warrants sought by intelligence agencies are rejected but some do have to be tweaked, the man who signs off on them says.

The public should be more worried about Google and Facebook than New Zealand's spy agencies, Prime Minister John Key says.

An urgent authorisation for warrantless surveillance by the SIS has been reviewed by the Inspector-General of Security and Intelligence and has been found to have no 'material concerns'.

The spy agency watchdog has identified a number of weaknesses in a new law for the GCSB and the SIS, primarily relating to surveillance warrants.

Proposed changes to New Zealand's two spy agencies are not justified and police can adequately deal with politically motivated criminal behaviour, says a former Green MP.

The parliamentary committee discussing proposed new spy laws has pulled a U-turn, refusing to make a session public, despite earlier promising to do so.

The Intelligence and Security Committee is being likened to a cosy club between National and Labour, with calls for broader political representation.

The Labour Party will support the first reading of new legislation that allows intelligence agencies to spy on NZers, but says there are areas that need addressing.

A bill that would give the country's spy agencies an explicit mandate to spy on New Zealanders has been introduced to Parliament. Video