Goff reveals role of spies in war zone

Labour leader Phil Goff has revealed the spies the Government has secretly been sending to the war in Afghanistan are used to alert New Zealand troops to potential threats.

The spies are most likely to be from the Security Intelligence Service and/or the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

They have been committed by both the Labour and National Governments but Prime Minister John Key has refused to comment on what their role is or whose command they are under.

Mr Goff, a former Minister of Defence and Foreign Affairs when Labour sent the spies, said: "You would expect New Zealand, if it has troops on the ground as it has in the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan to want to be alerted to any potential threat that might exist for them."

The GCSB could provide high-end communications interception while SIS could be used to infiltrate the community, or work in a liaison role with other intelligence agencies such as the CIA, British MI6 or Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security.

Mr Goff said the public did not need to be concerned they were under another country's command. "Nobody in any branch of New Zealand [intelligence agencies] works under the command of any other country. That's fundamental."