Blofeld beware, Keith Locke is here... The SIS' decision to target the mild-mannered Green MP as a security threat is another sign the agency has lost its way
So, the people we entrust to protect us from subversion and sabotage spend their time keeping a watchful eye not only on protest groups, but on elected MPs.
Keith Locke revealed to the Sunday papers that the SIS has kept their file on him open after he was elected to parliament in 1999. Not only have they kept a file on him since he was 11 (Locke's parents were prominent communists), but they monitored his proposed trip to Sri Lanka in 2003, where he was to meet with both sides involved in the country's long-running civil war. As Locke himself says, that's an "affront to our parliamentary system".
We've already learnt in recent months that the SIS has been infiltrating community groups involved in environmental and animal rights protests and that keeping tabs on the personal lives and habits of those campaigning against foreign ownership in New Zealand.
Some of these odd investigations have come to light because the SIS has taken the admirable step of making public declassified files. But some of the activities revealed are less than admirable.
The SIS, it seems, spends significant time watching New Zealanders who have political views that differ from the government of the day and reveal them in public, legal discourse or protest. That seems at odds with its stated roles, which are:
- to investigate threats to security and to work with other agencies within Government, so that the intelligence it collects is actioned and threats which have been identified are disrupted
- to collect foreign intelligence, and
- to provide a range of protective security advice and services to Government.
The SIS' website – you've got to smile when a spy agency has a website – explains that the "intelligence cycle" begins by identifying threats. It continues:
Before the Service takes action to investigate a potential threat, there has to be a clear understanding of what that threat comprises, so that any investigation is appropriate and effectively directed.
So what threat does a middle-aged, middle class MP compromise? If I had to choose, I'd say he offers less of a threat to our country than a security agency that spies on MPs and pays informants in legal community groups. Locke has strongly-held views, but he's about as dangerous as a gluten-free lamington.
Does the SIS have so little to do? Is New Zealand so safe from real threats that we have to imagine some? Is the SIS over-staffed (with 200 people on the payroll) and over-funded?
Public debate and protest are essential to the health of our nation. We should never be lured into thinking 'there is no alternative' and grassroots activists help ensure we avoid that trap. You and I don't have to agree with them to recognise that rather than being a threat, they're good for New Zealand.
Yes, we need to keep this in perspective. There's no evidence that agents were going through Locke's bank accounts or rubbish bins. They were merely keeping a record of events and issues already in the public arena. Still, it is less than we have the right to expect from our security services and John Key's verbal shrug when asked about the issue is insufficient. Key said Locke's file went back a long way and was probably just being updated by "a slightly over-zealous staff member".
Over-zealous? I've got to say, that reply doesn't provide me with even a quantum of solace. A representative of a legal political party supported by close to ten percent of the population has notes kept about his political activities, and the Prime Minister can't bring himself to say that was wrong. Is anyone else concerned about that picture? The worry is not merely the injustice done to Locke, one of the most mild-mannered men you will ever meet. We should be concerned that the surveillance of Locke could spill over into the many meetings he has with ordinary New Zealanders. Citizens should be able to meet with one of their representatives without any thought that they may be being watched by security services.
No, it's not likely to bugger our democracy, but it's insidious.
One specific item in Locke's file raised my eyebrows. The Sunday Star Times reports the file included a letter to a newspaper editor criticising Locke "with a hand-written annotation that says "Eeeexxcellent!".
The SIS says it is an "apolitical" organisation. That is not an apolitical observation. And it prompts the question, why focus on a Green MP? Have ACT MPs been monitored as well, or is only left wing political thought regarded as threatening?
Key has said he will consider the matter further today to decide whether a review was necessary. Let's hope he consults his conscience, not his spin doctors. He needs to show leadership on this, making it clear to the people he leads that he understands the subtle dangers of democracy.