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Source: ONE News -
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A counter terrorism expert says changes to the way the country's security is managed will bring the country in line with similar restructures in the US and Britain.
The government's External Assessments Bureau has changed its name to the National Assessments Bureau and will in future be involved in security for major events like the 2011 Rugby World Cup .
It has previously assessed foreign threats to New Zealand's security but it has taken on a domestic focus as well after a review of the effectiveness of all three security intelligence agencies - the other two are the SIS and the GCSB.
Green Party says it is an outrage that one of the country's spy agencies has changed its name and is going to have a new domestic security role, without parliament even being told about it.
However, Professor Jim Veitch disputes claims that New Zealanders should have been made aware of the changes beforehand.
The bureau review was carried out by former secretary for foreign affairs Simon Murdoch, TV ONE reported. It could not obtain a copy of his report.
The bureau has a staff of 30, a budget of $3.5 million and is based in the Reserve Bank building in Wellington.
The Green's foreign affairs spokesman, Keith Locke, said there should have been consultation.
"The External Assessments Bureau has been dedicated to foreign country assessments, and now the government is transforming it into a domestic spy agency," he said.
"There has been no demonstration of why the two existing intelligence agencies concerned with domestic intelligence, the police and the Security Intelligence Service, are not covering the field adequately."
Prime Minister John Key confirmed the bureau's changed role.
"Of course we would engage our intelligence agencies to make sure that we can provide the appropriate level of protection for New Zealanders and international visitors who come for the Rugby World Cup," he said.
"In that regard it is a national assessments bureau as opposed to purely external."
