Andrea Vance | Stuff | 15 Sept 2014

The impending release of new Snowden files has forced the Government to admit its foreign spy agency was gearing up for mass surveillance in the wake of an illegal spying scandal.

Prime Minister John Key said the Government Communications Security Bureau teamed up with overseas intelligence agencies, including the US, to boost its capability for wholesale snooping.

It was working on the proposals for more than a year, before Key says he put it on hold in March 2013. However, the Government beefed up spy legislation last year which critics say leaves the door open for mass surveillance in the future.

Key was forced into the admission by American journalist Glenn Greenwald, who will tonight release a report based on US National Security Agency Documents, leaked by fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

Greenwald says the Government hasn’t been truthful about the GCSB legislation, which passed into law in August 2013.

Key insists Greenwald is “absolutely wrong”.

“He said the GCSB is undertaking mass surveillance against New Zealanders. They are not. There is no ambiguity, no middle ground. I’m right, he’s wrong.”

He says he has documents, including a Cabinet paper, to back his claims. But he won’t release them until Greenwald reveals what he has. And he accused the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of playing politics, by staging a “sound and light show” with Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom, just days before the election.

Greenwald will join Dotcom at a “Moment of Truth” event tonight in Auckland, where he is set to detail his claims about the GCSB.

Key claims the Snowden documents tell only half the story – that Cabinet signed off proposals for the GCSB to investigate “widespread cyber protection” in early 2012 after two “significant” cyber attacks on Kiwi companies.

But he says that after a year he stopped the work as an internal review unearthed a raft of problems at the agency.

That review, by Rebecca Kitteridge, was sparked when illegal surveillance of Dotcom came to light in September 2012. Her report found a further 88 Kiwis were unlawfully snooped on over a decade.

Key says the public should trust him, but he won’t declassify the top secret documents until Greenwald fronts up. “It’s incumbent on him [Greenwald] to release his documents. He releases things, we’ll prove that we’re right.”

New Zealand’s participation in wholesale spying programmes has been the focus of speculation since the first NSA leaks in June 2013. Key has said he would resign if the GSCB were found to be carrying out mass surveillance.

Asked why he didn’t previously release the top secret papers, he said: “Because it wouldn’t have saved any trouble. These guys would have come into town with a sound and light show and made up lots and lots of stuff.”

Labour leader David Cunliffe was non-committal yesterday on whether the papers should be declassified. “Frankly it’s between him and Mr Greenwald.”

SPYING TIMELINE

November 2011 – Two un-named New Zealand companies come under signficant “cyber attack”

Early 2012 – In response, GCSB suggests it starts looking at carrying out mass surveillance. Key takes the idea to Cabinet, which authorises the agency to begin work with other intelligence partners in the Five Eyes network.

September 2012 – It emerges the GCSB had illegally spied on Kim Dotcom ahead of the January 2012 raid on his home

October 2012 – Rebecca Kitteridge is seconded to the GCSB to begin an internal review

March 2013 – Key tells the GCSB to put its business case into mass surveillance on hold

April 2013 – Fairfax reports that the Kitteridge review found the agency illegally spied on 88 Kiwis over a decade

May 2013 – The Government introduces two pieces of legislation to beef up GCSB and SIS powers

June 2013 – The first leaks from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden appear, sparking a global debate on privacy and spy agencies

August 2013 – The GCSB bill passes, despite protests.