Questions asked by the community about National Security and Intelligence Priorities

17.2 National Security and Intelligence Priorities

How are the National Security and Intelligence Priorities developed?

The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s National Security Group leads the development of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities (see Part 8, chapter 3), following this process:

The National Assessments Bureau produces a strategic intelligence assessment on the national security threats facing New Zealand.
Priorities are developed, informed by the strategic assessment, and current government, sector and agency policy priorities and, since 2018, the National Risk Register.
Relevant Public sector agencies are consulted on the draft Priorities;
The Security and Intelligence Board endorses the Priorities.
Cabinet approves the Priorities.

Which agencies influence the setting of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities, and how?

The Government Communications Security Bureau, Immigration New Zealand, New Zealand Customs Service, New Zealand Police, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and other Public sector agencies contribute to the setting of National Security and Intelligence Priorities (see Part 8, chapter 3). For example, for the terrorism Priority the relevant Public sector agencies are:

consulted on the drafting of the strategic assessment prepared by the National Assessments Bureau that informs the development of the Priority;
consulted on the draft Priority individually, and in cross-agency workshops;
consulted on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s policy papers that recommend changes to the Priorities; and
represented at either the Security and Intelligence Board which endorse the Priorities to be sent to the Cabinet committee.

Was white supremacy and right-wing extremism included in the current National Security and Intelligence Priorities as an area of focus for counter-terrorism?

Not specifically. The 16 National Security and Intelligence Priorities approved by Cabinet in December 2018 included a terrorism priority (see Part 8, chapter 3). It includes domestic as well as international terrorism threats but does not refer to particular ideologies.

The domestic terrorism threats were described as “those that may arise in and against New Zealand or be carried out by New Zealanders overseas … [and the] scope includes emerging trends and characteristics associated with overseas terrorist networks’ links to New Zealand”. The international terrorism threats were described as “threats against New Zealand’s interests overseas in areas which have the greatest exposure for New Zealanders, and the trends and characteristics of emerging regional and global terrorism threats” that may impact on New Zealand. An unclassified version of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities was initially published in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s 2019 Annual Report.²³⁸ In September 2020 the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet updated its website to include the unclassified version of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities,²³⁹ which included:

Terrorism. Threats to New Zealand, New Zealanders and New Zealand’s interests from terrorism (ideologically, politically or religiously motivated violence) at home and abroad.

Did the National Assessments Bureau or the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service raise the issue of white supremacy and right-wing extremism in the drafting of previous or the current National Security and Intelligence Priorities?

National Assessments Bureau

Four strategic assessments produced by the National Assessments Bureau (see Part 8, chapter 4) have informed the development of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2018 (see Part 8, chapter 3):

The strategic assessment that informed the 2012 Priorities noted the resurgence of neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing groups in Europe and the United States of America espousing hard-line nationalist and anti-immigration rhetoric. It assessed that:
- such groups may come to prominence in New Zealand in response to the effects of the global economic crisis; and
- economic and immigration policies could stir such groups in New Zealand to protest against perceived increasing inequalities, and this could lead to the adoption of more violent methods to effect political change.
The strategic assessment that informed the 2015 Priorities did not mention white supremacy or right-wing extremism.
The strategic assessment that informed the 2016 Priorities noted that the recovery from the Global Financial Crisis has left governments under pressure from disgruntled citizens, who are looking for alternatives on the political right and left, with unpredictable consequences.
The strategic assessment that informed the 2018 Priorities did not mention white supremacy or right-wing extremism

New Zealand Security Intelligence Service

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service was consulted during the development of the National Assessments Bureau assessments that informed the development of the Priorities in 2012, 2015 and 2016.

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (with New Zealand Police and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet) is the owner of the terrorism risk profile in the National Risk Register (see Part 8, chapter 3), which informed the development of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities in 2018.

The first terrorism risk profile (in January 2018) noted:

the global rise of a new far right ideology, which had been strengthened by opposition to refugee settlements and Islamist extremist attacks in the West;
that there was no indication that far right groups in New Zealand have the intent and capability to promote their ideology by an act of terrorism; and
that an extreme right-wing lone actor attack in New Zealand remained a possibility, albeit a remote one.

Do trends in terrorist attacks (actual or prevented) on Five Eyes and other western countries inform the development of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities? If so, how?

Yes. Strategic intelligence assessments produced by the National Assessments Bureau (see Part 8, chapter 4) inform the development of the National Security and Intelligence Priorities. These draw on all sources of intelligence, both secret and open-source. This includes intelligence and reports from Five Eyes and other international partners, as well as other Public sector agencies involved in the counter-terrorism effort, such as the Combined Threat Assessment Group, the Government Communications Security Bureau, New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.

Did the Government Communications Security Bureau or the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service withhold any information from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Cabinet, relating to the global trends in white supremacy and right-wing extremism during each of the previous National Intelligence Priorities cycles since they were introduced?

We have no indication, or evidence, that this occurred.

_{238. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, footnote 46 above at page 85.}

_{239. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, footnote 47 above.}