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Source: ONE News
The security risk of holding the Rugby World Cup is a driving factor behind a new mission for New Zealand's most secret intelligence agency.
ONE News has exclusively learnt that the External Assessments Bureau (EAB) has been re-named and will now look at domestic threats as well as foreign ones.
The world cup will be a major sporting attraction for the country and also a major security headache, but a new intelligence gathering agency is assessing any security threats.
The EAB is housed in the Reserve Bank Building in central Wellington with 30 staff and a budget of $3.5 million. It's sole focus has been assessing security risks from foreign sources but the agency has quietly changed its name and its focus.
It is now called the National Assessments Bureau and it has a new mission - to look at both domestic and foreign security risks.
Security for events like the Rugby World Cup is one of the factors driving the change.
"Of course we would engage our intelligence agencies to make sure we can provide the appropriate level of protection for New Zealanders and international visitors that come for the Rugby World Cup so in that regard it is a National Assessments Bureau as opposed to purely external," says Prime Minister John Key.
Critics say the change should not have been made in secret.
"This is a huge change and it's absolutely shocking that the people of New Zealand and the parliament of New Zealand wasn't consulted in any way whatsoever," says Green Party MP Keith Locke.
The move comes after a review by former foreign affairs chief Simon Murdoch who looked at the effectiveness of the country's three intelligence agencies.
The Prime Minister turned down TVNZ's Official Information Act request for that report but the Ombudsman is investigating whether it should be released.
"We're setting up a whole new spy agency, duplicating the work of the SIS and the police, and we don't know anything about it - it's just unacceptable in a democracy," says Locke.
But the new name reflects a new focus in the agency on domestic security.
