Dear New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,

I would like to request under the Official Information Act some information related to the NZSIS. I would like to request:

a) How often recommendations are made by the NZSIS in matters to be decided under the Citizenship Act an Immigration Act, as per s4(bc) of the NZSIS Act. I would like to request the number of recommendations made from 2011 to present.

b) The number of people scrutinized for security clearances by NZSIS from 2011 to present s4(bb) of the NZSIS Act, with a breakdown by
1) the level of clearance applied for,
2) the number of people successful,
3) the number of people rejected, and
4) the agency that requested the security clearance/the agency that the person was working for at the time of the security clearance application.

c) The number of serious offences referred to Police or any other persons as under s4H of the NZSIS Act from 2011 to present, with a breakdown by offence type.

d) The identity of any persons, or the organization they work for, who have been given information about serious offences under s4H of the NZSIS Act who were not members of the New Zealand Police from 1999 to present.

e) A copy of the oldest Intelligence Community Briefing to Incoming Ministers (BIM) that the NZSIS has access to: the reason for the oldest being that the strength of the national security exception fades over time. If some parts of the BIM would still be withheld, I would prefer that these were blanked out, with the rest of the report released.

f) A copy of the 2011 Annual Report for the NZSIS issued under s4J of the NZSIS Act (only annual reports up to 2010 are listed on the NZSIS website).

g) If any powers or functions of the Director of the NZSIS have been delegated to any employees or class of employees of the NZSIS under s5AA, and if so,
1) what power has been delegated,
2) if it has been delegated to a class of employees, what that class of employees is,
3) the number of employees in any relevant class,
4) if any special or general directions have been specified under s5AA(6), and if so, what are those conditions.

h) If any delegations have been revoked by the Director under s5AAB since 1999, and if so, what was the relevant delegation revoked, and what were the reasons for this revocation

i) The identity of the current Commissioner(s) of Security Warrants, and how long they have held that role. Although I am aware it is an offence to publish the identity of an NZSIS staff member, but I would suggest that the Commissioner is not a staff member, because they are appointed by the Prime Minister, and report to the Minister rather than anyone inside the NZSIS.

j) A copy of any disclosures of interests for the Commissioner of Security warrant issued under s5F of the NZSIS Act.

k) Some information relating to the NZSIS and Official Information Act requests for the 2011 to present period, including:
1) The number of Official Information Act requests that have been made to the NZSIS,
2) the number of requests that have been answered in full,
3) the number of requests that have been partially declined, with a breakdown by reason if possible
4) the number of requests that have been fully declined under the Act, with a breakdown of reasons if possible,
5) the number of appeals to the Ombudsmen from OIA decisions,
6) the number of cases in which more information was released by the NZSIS following a complaint to the Ombudsmen,
7) the mean date for replying to OIA requests,
8) the median date for replying to OIA requests,
9) the number of requests transferred to another agency.

Feel free to contact me if you wish me to clarify my request. I look forward to receiving your response by the statutory deadline, which according to the Ombudsmen's Calcuator is the 15th of June.

Yours faithfully,

Joshua Grainger

Dear [personal information removed],

I would note that all responses for this particular OIA request will be posted publicly and automatically to the website FYI.org.nz, including your name. Will that cause any problems, given s13A of the NZSIS Act (which prohibits the publication of any information suggesting that someone is an NZSIS staff member)?

If so, I would suggest that in future responses to this OIA request, and other OIA requests submitted through the FYI.org.nz wbsite, that you do not include your name.

Yours faithfully,

Joshua Grainger