Top Secret Special clearances
Joshua Grainger made this Official Information request to New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
The request was partially successful.
From: Joshua Grainger
Dear New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,
I was reading your annual report for 2011, and included in there were the level of security clearances. These were, confidential, secret, top secret, and top secret special. I was intrigued by the concept of "top secret special" security clearances, as I couldn't find any mention of them in your vetting documentation (http://www.nzsis.govt.nz/pdf/Vetting_for...). So, I would like to request some information under the Official Information Act about them. I would like to request:
a) what a top secret special security clearance enables you to do that a "top secret" security clearance won't satisfy for
b) the job title of each current holder of a top secret special security clearance, and the agency that they work for
c) how the vetting for a top secret special security clearance differs from the vetting for other security clearances
Feel free to contact me if you want me to clarify my request. I would prefer an electronic response sent to this email address.
Any emails sent in response to this request will be automatically posted on the FYI.org.nz website, so please *do not* sign email responses with any name due to s13A of the NZSIS Act.
Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Dear Mr Grainger
Thank you for your e-mail of 13 June 2012 requesting information under
the provisions of the Official Information Act 1982. We will respond
within the twenty working days provided for in the Act.
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From: Joshua Grainger
Dear New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,
The deadline for replying to my Official Information Act request on Top Secret Special requests passed on the 12th of July. Can I please have an update on the status of my request?
Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Dear Mr Grainger
We replied to your request for information about Top Secret (Special)
security clearances by letter reference 2906647 dated 25 June 2012.
This was posted to you at the address you provided in your e-mail of 17
May 2012: [personal information removed].
If you confirm that you did not receive that letter, we can send you a
copy.
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From: Joshua Grainger
Dear New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,
No, I have not recieved that letter. Would you mind please attaching the letter to an email and sending it to this address?
Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Dear Mr Grainger
Please refer to our recent e-mail exchange.
Attached is our response to your request about Top Secret (Special)
security clearances, which we originally posted to you on 25 June 2012.
The provision of an electronic version of a document can be subject to
technical delays and I regret that this has proved to be the case.
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From: Joshua Grainger
Dear New Zealand Security Intelligence Service,
Thank you very much for your reply. I was wondering if you could explain the reasons why the job titles of those currently holding Top Secret Special security clearances was withheld under s6(a).
As the Ombudsmen Guidelines state: "It is not sufficient to simply assert that disclosure of the information will have a prejudicial effect. The public sector agency must be able to identify, with sufficient particularity, the nature of the prejudicial effect and explain how such prejudice will occur in order to meet the tests for withholding in section 6."
As such I was hoping you could disclose what the prejudicial effect would be, and how such prejudice would occur.
Yours faithfully,
Joshua Grainger
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Dear Mr Grainger
Thank you for your e-mail of 9 August 2012 requesting the reasons for
our withholding, under s6(a)of the Official Information Act 1982, of the
job titles of those currently holding Top Secret (Special) security
clearances.
We will respond within the twenty working days provided for in the Act.
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New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
Dear Mr Grainger
Response to your official information act request is now attached.
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To Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet by Joshua Grainger
Joshua Grainger left an annotation ()
So apparantly the job titles of those with Top Secret Security clearances cannot be published because "To provide a list of job titles would readily enable the structure, current priorities and staff numbers of the various intelligence organisations to be determined."
Is it just me or is it not unreasonable for the staff numbers, priorities, and staff numbers of intelligence agencies to be public knowledge? Such information, such as the number of FTE staff and organization structure is publicly available on the websites of the NZSIS, GCSB, and DPMC. I'm guessing that one agency that isn't quite so often maybe the Police, or maybe the NZDF?
(I'm genuinely interested in other's viewpoints on this; I maybe being biased by my political views?)
Link to this