Thank you for your email. We will respond after 6 January 2021.

 

Kind regards

 

NZSIS

 

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Tēnā koe,

Thank you for your Official Information Act request.

We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than 20 working days after the day that your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact [NZSIS request email].

Ngā mihi,
NZSIS

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Dear Azad,

Thank you for your Official Information Act request for all assessments by the NZSIS from 2017 to 2019.

As your request references the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch attack we believe you are specifically interested in assessments related to counter-terrorism. However, as your request is currently framed, there are a significant number of documents that would be in scope of the request, many of which would be unrelated to counter-terrorism.

The NZSIS produces a large number of documents about a variety of topics each year which contain assessments. Topics covered include counter-terrorism, foreign interference or espionage, protective security and security vetting. As your request is currently framed, we would need to assess a significant number to confirm whether or not they meet the scope of your request, and it would be very difficult to meet your request without substantial collation or research.

In order to provide you with the most relevant information to your request, would you be happy to refine the request to: all NZSIS Security Intelligence Reports and CTAG Threat Assessments relating to domestic counter-terrorism from 2017 to 2019. If this does not accurately reflect the information you are seeking, please let us know.

Kind regards
NZSIS

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Hi Azad,

Thank you for your quick response. We will process your request and provide a response in due course.

Kind regards,
NZSIS

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Dear Azad,

We refer to your official information request dated 4 January 2021 as outlined below.

The Official Information Act 1982 requires that we advise you of our decision on your request no later than 20 working days after the day that we received your request. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to meet that time limit and we are, therefore, writing to notify you of an extension of the time to make our decision, to 30 April 2021.

This extension is necessary because your request necessitates a search through a large quantity of information and meeting the original time limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations; additionally, consultations necessary to make a decision on your request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request with us, including this decision, please feel free to contact [NZSIS request email].

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

Kind regards
NZSIS

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Dear Azad,

Please see attached a response to your OIA request, along with the first five documents for release.

Kind regards
NZSIS

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Kia ora Azad,

 

Further to our letter of 30 April 2021, please find attached further
documents prepared for release in relation to your OIA request. As allowed
for under section 16(1)(e) of the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) we
have chosen to make this information available in a summarised version.
This approach has been taken to protect national security, international
relations and law enforcement considerations, while also releasing the
information in an accessible format.

 

The following grounds of the OIA have been applied when preparing these
documents for release:

·        S6(a), where the making available of the information would be
likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the
international relations of the Government of New Zealand;

·        S6(b), where the making available of that information would be
likely to prejudice the entrusting of information to the government of New
Zealand on a basis of confidence by the government of any other country or
any agency of such government;

·        S6(c), where the making available of that information would be
likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention,
investigation and detection of offences;

·        S16(1)(e), information may be made available by giving a summary
or excerpt of its contents.

 

Summarising reports for release

We have chosen to provide summaries of the documents being released. This
is because enough information required redacting from the original
documents to render them nonsensical. In particular the documents
regarding the Christchurch attacks required redaction of the attacker’s
name and references to his manifesto.

 

We took the following approach when preparing the summaries for release:

·        The summaries we have provided use excerpts from the original
document as much as possible.

·        The individual responsible for the Christchurch Mosque attacks is
referred to as “the attacker”, rather than by his name.

·        References to content in the individual’s manifesto have been
withheld under s6(c) of the OIA as this document has been classified as
objectionable material by the Chief Censor, and therefore release would
prejudice the maintenance of the law.

 

The NZSIS is lawfully permitted to possess the individual’s manifesto for
the purpose of, and in connection with, our statutory functions. In the
documents we reviewed for summary, content from the manifesto was
referenced in relation to the attacker’s state of mind, intention and
planning around the attack.

 

Terminology

In order to remain as close as possible to the original product, we have
used the terminology from the original reports in the summaries for
release. The NZSIS is now using new terms which reflect a change in our
language. For instance, what was previously referred to as “extreme right
wing” would now be considered White Identity Extremism. What was
previously referred to as “Islamist Extremism” would now be considered
Faith Motivated Violent Extremism. Our 2020 Annual Report provides more
detail on this if you are interested:
[1]https://www.nzsis.govt.nz/assets/media/2...
(see page 14).

 

We hope you find this useful. Further documents in relation to your
request are still being prepared and will be released shortly. If you have
any further questions or wish to discuss this decision with us, please
feel free to contact [2][NZSIS request email] .

 

You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of
this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
[3]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.

 

Kind regards,

NZSIS

 

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Kia ora Azad,

Please find attached a further response, and documents for release, in relation to your below OIA request.

Kind regards
NZSIS

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Kia ora Azad

Please find attached a final response in relation to this request.

Kind regards
NZSIS

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