Foreign intelligence units targeting New Zealand, tried to recruit Kiwis, spies warn

Units within an unnamed foreign intelligence service are targeting New Zealand and have attempted to secretly recruit Kiwis to secure intelligence “to support their geopolitical ambitions”.

That’s one of the insights from a new assessment of the country’s threat environment by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) released on Tuesday.

The security service disclosed that over the past two years, people affiliated with one of those units had been been coming to New Zealand “most likely to collect New Zealand political, foreign policy, and government information, and identify potential intelligence sources”.

“To disrupt the activities of the unit and those who do its bidding, NZSIS delivered a message to one of its affiliates to pass on to the foreign intelligence service,” the report said.

“It warned that NZSIS is aware of their activities, they must stop, and that we will continue to monitor and disrupt this type of activity through multiple means.”

The NZSIS report is the second annual document to highlight threats to the country, including those from foreign interference, espionage and violent extremism, identified by the agency.

“Our independent assessment is about being as upfront as we can about the reality of national security threats facing our country. The point is not to alarm anyone but to alert New Zealanders to the threats so that we can work together to manage them,” director-general of security Andrew Hampton said.

“In recent years there has been considerably more public discussion around topics such as foreign interference and violent extremism, which is why our annual assessment is so important. We aim to provide an upfront and factual basis to this ongoing national conversation.”

NZSIS Director-General Andrew Hampton. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Among the key findings is that New Zealand’s place and role in the Indo-Pacific “can make us vulnerable to the activities of other states striving for influence and position throughout the region”.

Our location is in part contributing to New Zealand being “increasingly exposed to security risks”, the NZSIS said.

The report states ideological differences across the Indo-Pacific, including differing notions of nationalism, various degrees of commitment to liberal rights, and an increase in authoritarian tendencies, was placing pressure on the international order that New Zealand relies on.

“Strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific has for the past decade or so been largely framed as being between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and New Zealand and its traditional security partners.

“However recently, the contest in the region is becoming one where there are several centres of power and influence. These centres of power comprise a range of countries including those with which New Zealand is growing its relationships, whether India or in Southeast Asia.”

The report also said the level of foreign interference activity in New Zealand “remains an ongoing concern”, with a small number of foreign states conducting interference and espionage in and against the country and its people.

While it said a number of states “undertake malicious activity here”, the NZSIS called the PRC a “complex intelligence concern”.

“The PRC carries out foreign interference activities against New Zealand’s diverse Chinese communities,” it said.

“The NZSIS has seen attempts to use complex and deceptive front organisations to connect with groups in New Zealand and replace authentic and diverse community views with those approved by the PRC.”

Another example given was Russia, which the NZSIS said views diaspora communities as being a global network of “compatriots” who should promote the country’s language, culture and worldview and deter dissenting views.

While globally, this “transnational repression activity” has ranged from “assassinations to administrative punishments”, Russia’s interference in the Russian community in New Zealand “likely includes primarily monitoring and attempting to shape this community’s online behaviours”.

Foreign interference and espionage is a concern, the report said.

Espionage was also identified as a threat by the NZSIS, which said a “small number of foreign states conduct espionage against New Zealand”. This can involve states seeking to secretly gather information for their own benefit.

It was in this context that the NZSIS identified the units of a foreign intelligence service targeting New Zealand.

Another example given by the agency was the intelligence arm of the PRC using social network sites to identify “unwitting candidates”, including New Zealanders, who can share information.

In terms of the threat of violent extremism and terrorism, the NZSIS said an attack remained a “realistic possibility” and “the most likely form of violent extremist attack would be an individual who has self-radicalised, taken steps to avoid detection and acted alone”.

One type of violent extremism discussed in the report is faith-motivated violent extremism (FMVE). It said a small number of these cases are “beginning to re-emerge in New Zealand” in line with global trends.

“Support for faith-based violent ideologies in New Zealand is largely from those who consume online propaganda and promote supportive views. There may also be New Zealanders financially supporting FMVE abroad, either knowingly or inadvertently.”

Of the groups a small number of New Zealand-based people continue to support, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is the most prominent, though support is limited.

The NZSIS said it had received information from a partner agency indicating a New Zealand-based account was sharing Isil-related FMVE material on social media, expressing views in support of FMVE ideology, and engaging with others overseas in online forums.

“Investigators quickly assessed the credibility and identified the individual to determine the level of risk they posed. NZSIS intelligence was able to inform domestic partners who worked to mitigate the potential risk of the individual radicalising others.”

The report said the conflict in Gaza is being used by terrorist ogranisations to drive online radicalisation and recruitment. It said this was a global trend “but similar signs are beginning to appear in our environment”.

This isn’t the first time recently that government agencies have warned about the more challenging geopolitical and security environment.

Just last week, the Ministry of Defence said there are “increasing and compounding threats” to New Zealand’s security with “an “increasing risk of conflict directly affecting” the country’s national security.

In March, the Government took the step of blaming a Chinese state-sponsored group for hacking the Parliamentary Service and the Parliamentary Counsel Office in 2021. Judith Collins, the minister in charge of the spies, said it was “totally unacceptable”, but China denied involvement.

Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub Press Gallery office.