pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz wrote:
20/20 today had a segment on the operation of the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau), the trading name of the NSA in New Zealand. This was motivated by the recent publication of Nicky Hagers book "Secret Power" which goes into great detail about the operation of the GCSB (it has floor plans of the monitoring stations, details of operations, staff, names and contact numbers, etc etc - it's a very well researched book covering the day-to-day running of an intelligence agency).
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AFAIK there's never been any direct, documented proof of what these bases are intercepting - the dishes are pointed in the right direction for intercepting Intelsat transmissions, but the various agencies have been able to deny the nature of the interception. The footage of operations manuals on a desk would seem to prove beyond a doubt that the agencies are engaged in large-scale interception and monitoring of civilian communications.
[more text deleted] A good primer for U.S. citizens on that area of the world can be found in a document called "The Opal File - the Round Table financial takeover of Australia and New Zealand". Time period covered is May 1967 to Feb. 1987. Names mentioned include: Hunt, Nelson B. Muldoon, ? (N.Z. finance minister) Onassis, Aristotle Colby, William Parsky, Gerald Hand, Michael Maheu, Robert Rockefeller, David Sindona, Michele Wriston, Walter McCloy, John J. Brierly, Ron Seldon, Bob Nugan, Frank Jones, Bob Fletcher, J.C. There are many other names, it's a great document, and the size is relatively small, about 59 kb.