Top secret spy report released by mistake

Archives New Zealand has admitted it mistakenly released a top secret report to a newspaper.

The Sunday Star-Times published items from the papers of former Prime Minister David Lange, including excerpts from the 1985-1986 annual report of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

Government duty minister Jim Anderton said on Sunday that the release of the top secret report was a blunder.

Yesterday, chief archivist Dianne Mackaskill said that although the report was part of Mr Lange's papers, it was not on a list of documents requested for viewing by the Star-Times and approved by the Cabinet.

Archives staff had handed over the report in error. She said the organisation would now take a "long look" at its processes.

Mr Anderton said the report should have been tracked by the spy agency and returned by Mr Lange after it was read.

Officials from the GCSB and Prime Minister Helen Clark's office would look into why it was never returned or recalled by the agency and report back to Helen Clark.

But the Green Party MP Keith Locke said the official focus on how the report came to be released risked glossing over its contents.

The report showed New Zealand spied on the United Nations, France, Japan and several Pacific Island nations.

An inquiry was needed to see whether such activities were continuing, he said.

New Zealand's Tangimoana spy base in the Manawatu and Waihopai base in Marlborough are part of a US-led international communications interception intelligence network.

Mr Anderton ruled out an inquiry, which he said would undermine the effectiveness of New Zealand's intelligence activities, which were vital to the region's security and stability.

He denied the accidental release of the report was embarrassing for the Government or would affect relations with other countries.

"We are talking now almost 20 years ago and a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then."

Mr Lange's papers also showed that the US had threatened to spy on New Zealand after the introduction of the anti-nuclear policy, if relations became any worse.

- NZPA