Research raises concern over near-space launches on dairy farms and political donations.

Cheryl Gwyn holds a crucial watchdog role.

The agency which collects Kiwis greatest secrets fails on protecting that information.

EXCLUSIVE: Kiwi spy agencies and our elite soldiers have a long-standing link with surprise Kiwi Peter Thiel.

Labour has opted for NZ First over the Greens in its nomination to the committee which oversees New Zealand's spies.

The spying watchdog has urged Parliament to "tighten up" the warranting regime for New Zealand's intelligence agencies.

Labour wants changes to spying reforms before it will support them, including a broader oversight committee.

The target of GCSB spying is considering a legal challenge against the New Zealand Government.

Military and intelligence agencies will get a combined $479 million in extra operational funding over the next four years.

The Security Intelligence Service has long been on the public conscious as a shadowy, Maxwell Smart-type body.

Anyone raised on Perry Mason knows there is a golden rule for lawyers - never ask a question in a public courtroom if you don't already know the answer.

NZ's domestic spying agency twice failed to tell the intelligence watchdog that it was undertaking visual surveillance.

"I think, ironically, the agencies are their own worst enemy by being so secretive about almost everything that they do," says Sir Michael Cullen.

Spies swapped emails about the internet entrepreneur's weight and wife while mocking his chances of getting New Zealand residency.

New Zealand's intelligence agencies will get a funding boost as concerns rise about the Islamic State (Isis), cyber-attacks and other

Spy chief Rebecca Kitteridge dreaming of a show featuring her very own spooks, writes Brian Rudman. "If the public could see the people of the SIS doing their work, they would be delighted to see what hardworking, terrific people."

Rebecca Kitteridge acknowledged a mistrust of intelligence agencies by many people, and said suspicion was natural given that, "we do everything behind closed doors".

The inquiry would study the way the GCSB chose its targets, what its decision-making process was and how it stuck to its duty to be politically neutral.

It would be surprising if our intelligence agencies were not spying on China in some way, writes David Fisher.

More New Zealanders were being monitored because of their links to Islamic State the head of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service says.

Wrong, says the Prime Minister of the surveillance stories, but he won't say why. David Fisher analyses the Edward Snowden leaks.

The watchdog tasked with overseeing the country's spy agencies says it is not yet possible to say that they have adequate systems in place to ensure correct behaviour.

Facebook pages encouraging violence on behalf of Isis are among factors increasing NZ's official terrorism risk and leading to a recruitment drive for new spies.

In the film Zero Dark Thirty, she was the persistent, conscientious CIA officer who finally tracked Osama bin Laden to his lair.

The MP who chaired the anti-terrorist legislation rushed through Parliament last week, MarkMitchell, says the bill was "100 per cent" justified.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters called an expansion of the SIS's surveillance powers "Nazism" in Parliament last night.

Cheryl Gwyn won't comment on whether John Key's text exchange with Cameron Slater will be part of her investigation into the leak of her recent report into the SIS' handling of an OIA request from Slater.

SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge has been recalled today to answer questions by MPs on the committee considering extensions to the powers of the domestic spy agency.

Security Intelligence Service boss Rebecca Kitteridge should have told Phil Goff to get stuffed, writes Rodney Hide.

Deputy Prime Minister accepts it but says John Key runs the "most transparent government that New Zealand's ever seen".