NZ's spy 'friends' warned after attack
The Dominion Post | Friday, 02 May 2008The Government Communications Security Bureau alerted the United States, Australia, Britain and Canada, fearing a coordinated assault on the so-called Ukusa intelligence alliance, after the Waihopai spy dome attack.
GCSB director Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson said an assurance was given that no sensitive equipment had been compromised in the attack on the GCSB's listening station near Blenheim that feeds into a US-led global electronic eavesdropping network.
During the security breach, activists deflated a giant protective bubble concealing one of two satellite dishes as a protest against the War on Terror, sparking the bureau's biggest security review in decades.
Mr Ferguson said his agency had scrambled to alert its intelligence "friends and partners".
The unusually frank admission yesterday from the Government's serving spymaster came in response to questions about whether New Zealand's friends and allies were concerned over Wednesday's security breach by the Ploughshares protest group.
"No, we pre-empted that by letting our friends and partners know what had occurred and that the mission was not compromised," Mr Ferguson said.
He said the message sent was "that we've had a security breach but no equipment has been compromised and they gained no access to any other equipment".
Asked if those contacted corresponded to the four other members of the five-nation Ukusa alliance - the US, Britain, Australia and Canada - he replied: "Pretty much ...
"I won't say specifically who I talked to ...
"It would make sense to make contact and reassure those with whom we would work."
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