Editorial: Nation's security needs you

New Zealand's expulsion of a Yemeni pilot on grounds of national security shows, according to the Prime Minister, that "the system was on to it". Her Immigration Minister claims the man, Rayed Mohammed Abdullah Ali, had been monitored then picked up and removed by our "multi-layered" security system in which the public could certainly have confidence.

On first reading, these comments might suggest that despite Ali having avoided detection at the border on arrival, the country's authorities performed well in this case. That some kind of official intelligence and surveillance kicked in as back-up to the Immigration Service's failings and we should be reassured by "the system".

As it turns out, no such technological or investigative dragnet seems to exist. Or, not an effective one. The fabled "authorities" will not say when or how they learned of Ali's existence and presence here, but the Herald has learned they were tipped off by Ardmore Flying School in mid-April after staff concerns about his attitude and intentions. That is about 45 days after his arrival in Auckland on February 26.

It is possible that some arm of the state was already aware of Ali, but the flying school certainly gained the impression that its tip-off was news to officialdom. It took another 45 days or so for Ali to be deported.

So, in this case, the system being "on to it" really meant amateurs with good instincts happened to spot the right thing and call the right phone number. Which is a good thing and certainly not the first time this country has relied upon suspicious members of the public to expose people of international concern in our midst.

The critical initial breakthrough in the Rainbow Warrior sabotage and murder investigation in 1985 came when a volunteer night patrol at a waterfront boating club noticed two French agents coming ashore in a rubber boat and making off in a white van. Similarly, an Internal Affairs official who wondered about the accent of a man applying for a passport was first to raise the alarm about a group of agents from Israel's Mossad spy agency who were stealing New Zealanders' identities for clandestine uses.

It is the way of intelligence gathering that any information from any source can be critical to a wider picture. Members of the public do have a role to play in preserving national security. New Zealand is a small place in which people still retain more than a passing interest in those they encounter and are quick to notice unconvincing character traits.

However, the happy coincidences of suspicious individuals encountering unwelcome foreigners and dobbing them in are not examples of a system being "on to it". We are not a nation likely to engage neighbourhood marshalls such as those who keep tabs on the blocks in major Chinese cities or to pay a network of informers. Politicians should not try to pretend that the border lapses can be tolerated because of back-up intelligence operations. It seems that in none of the cases mentioned above did agencies from major allies provide advance or breakthrough tips that helped New Zealand to track the unwanted visitors.

Ali's arrival and first 45 days in this country could probably not have been more open and obvious: Arab name, language student, flying schools, previous US domicile. More careful, sleeper, activists with agendas harmful to national security may adopt more subtle existences here. There must rightly be red faces within the Immigration Service and intelligence agencies at Ali's autumn tour of the North Island. The minister hopes more robust security systems will result from the gaps identified by this case. We had better hope so. The public's capacity to uncover persons of interest on the streets is laudable but, ultimately, limited.