I’m speechless

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has announced:

The Inspector-General has today announced the establishment of a Reference Group. The Group brings together a broad range of individuals and groups, all of whom have specific expertise and experience that in one way or another touches on the work of the Inspector-General’s office. The first meeting of the Reference Group was held last week in Wellington.

The Inspector-General scrutinises whether New Zealand’s intelligence and security agencies (the NZSIS and the GCSB) act lawfully and also whether reasonable New Zealanders would think their conduct was “right” (ie “proper”).

“The Inspector-General stands in the shoes of the public: we try to ask what the public would ask” said the Inspector-General, Cheryl Gwyn.

“The Group brings together people from outside government and the intelligence community who can keep us in touch with legal, social and security developments in NZ and overseas, inform our thinking about our work programme, and provide feedback on how we are performing our oversight role.”

The members include:

• Nicky Hager – Journalist, Author
• Deborah Manning – Barrister

Were Kim Dotcom and William Sutch not available?

UPDATE: One of the other members is the former (Acting) Soviet Ambassador to NZ. This is really going to please our Five Eyes partners! While he has been a NZ academic for some time, was he made to declare if he was a former Soviet Intelligence Officer before being appointed?