New Zealand
Security Intelligence Service
PO Box 900, Wellington
P +64 4 472 6170
F +64 4 472 8209
www.nzsis.govt.nz
17 February 2022
Harold
[FYI request #17954 email]
Tēnā koe Harold,
Official information request
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request of 14 December 2021 seeking
copies of the following documents:
1. The New Zealand Terrorism Threat Environment report for 2021
2. The Combined Threat Assessment Group terms of reference
On 25 January 2022 you were advised of an extension to the time limit for responding to this
request, due to the consultations necessary to make a decision. Thank you for your patience
while we prepared a response.
Response to your request
You requested a copy of the New Zealand Terrorism Threat Environment report for 2021.
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) will be publishing this report online
following my appearance at Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee in March. The
proposed release date for this document is 15 March 2022. My office will send you a link to
the report when it is available. This part of your request is therefore refused, as it falls under
section 18(d) of the OIA (the document will soon be publicly available).
I must refuse your request for a copy of CTAG’s terms of reference under section 18(e) of the
OIA, as the document requested does not exist.
The Combined Threat Assessment Group (CTAG) is a multi-agency organisation, governed
and resourced by several agencies but hosted by the NZSIS. It was established by Cabinet in
2004 and was directed to:
Mitigate the risk of uncoordinated or conflicting threat assessments in relation to
terrorist and criminal threats posing physical harm to New Zealand, its citizens and
interests both domestically and overseas and that extend beyond the purview of any
single agency;
Apply international best practice to threat assessment production; and
Take primary responsibility for the provision of threat assessments and evaluation of
threat warning intelligence, drawing from seconded staff.
CTAG’s triple mandate is to produce assessment on threats from terrorism, violent protest
and offshore violent crime.
If you wish to discuss this decision with us, 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.
Ngā mihi,
Rebecca Kitteridge
Te Tumu Whakarae mō Te Pā Whakamarumaru
Director-General of Security