NZSIS urges wider sharing of intelligence to build resilience
The Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS), Andrew Hampton, has outlined the agency's efforts to make intelligence insights and advice more broadly accessible without compromising secrecy, in a speech to intelligence professionals in Wellington.
Hampton began by acknowledging those in the intelligence profession for contributing vital insights that underpin national security decision making. He said, "In my job, I get to read rich, powerful and impactful intelligence every single day and I can confirm that there is real excellence being produced. So can I start by thanking you for the work that you do. National security decision making is impossible to do well without the insights we receive through sound intelligence."
Referencing the Māori proverb, "Ehara taku toa i te toataki tahi Ēngari he toa taki tini", Hampton emphasised the importance of team effort in producing effective intelligence, stating "Providing clear and actionable intelligence requires a team effort that draws upon the full diversity of our individual and collective strengths."
He noted that intelligence professionals have historically focused on decision makers with security clearances as their main audiences, but argued for expanding the impact of intelligence insights. Hampton asked, "How do we think about ways to make a broader impact?" and described work underway at NZSIS to share intelligence more widely, including with communities and businesses, in ways that protect sources and methods.
"It is my belief that being more open to sharing intelligence with broader audiences, including with community groups and businesses contributes to social resilience. It is that resilience which should be recognised as one of our most fundamental national security assets," Hampton said.
He highlighted the importance of public engagement for building social licence around intelligence work. "Sharing more about the threats we face and engaging meaningfully with the public has also become vital to building social licence around the work we as intelligence professionals do and the new kinds of work we want to be able to do in the future."
Speaking about NZSIS's partnerships, Hampton explained, "No matter how good our people are at doing their jobs or the technical capabilities we can deploy, in the field of intelligence and security we cannot even come close to achieving our missions through working alone. Partnering with others is key, especially partnering with communities, and with the private sector."
He also outlined the benefit of engaging communities and businesses directly: "Once made aware of what to look out for, communities and businesses will likely see threats emerging before we do. With access to the right advice and guidance, they will be able to take steps to make themselves harder targets and to mitigate threats before they can cause great harm."
Hampton acknowledged his upbringing in Mid Canterbury and the supportive role of his family and community in shaping his perspective, stating, "Multiple layers of support are important. It is something each of us can benefit from and where we can make our own contribution."
He observed changes in community attitudes and structures over time, particularly in recognising mental health challenges and the significance of diversity. "Fortunately, many of these aspects of our community have changed for the better since I was growing up. We now talk much more openly about mental health and there are now a greater range of services available for young people. Still though, our country's youth suicide rate is one of the highest in the OECD. Bullying and social dislocation remain prevalent, now exacerbated by social media. It's the same challenge but just happens differently these days," he said.
Hampton addressed the persistence of threats to New Zealand's security landscape, warning, "We at the NZSIS assess that another terrorist attack in New Zealand remains a realistic possibility. The most likely perpetrator of such an attack is someone who is acting alone, has been self-‐radicalised online and acts with little or no intelligence forewarning." He also noted the involvement of individuals with "mixed, unclear or unstable motivations," often young people with a fixation on violence compounded by mental health issues.
On foreign interference and espionage, Hampton described the threat posed by a handful of authoritarian governments targeting New Zealand's ethnic communities, and outlined recent trends: "We see a small number of authoritarian governments or proxies acting on their behalf that monitor, and in some cases, harass groups or individuals in New Zealand who they perceive as dissidents. We also see one foreign government in particular using deceptive front organisations to try to control the community narrative and suppress views they perceive as critical."
He highlighted the importance of intelligence sharing to build public understanding, referencing the annual Security Threat Environment report, which now includes real case studies to demonstrate the threats. "An important way we can contribute to building community resilience from a security and intelligence perspective is therefore by sharing insights that inform the public's understanding of the threats and allows them to make better decisions about their own safety and security."
Hampton described the uptake and adaptation of NZSIS resources such as the "Know the Signs" guide and tailored guidance for technology sector security, stating "Given that each indicator came from different NZSIS CT investigations, it's a tangible example of intelligence being declassified and shared to make a broader impact."
He said that effective outreach and engagement are built on trust: "If we want communities and businesses to take seriously what we have to share, we need to earn their trust, and to do this we need to build our own cultural capabilities and customer focus; really invest in relationships; listen; and demonstrate we have something of value to offer."
Touching on NZSIS's increased openness, Hampton said, "For the NZSIS, we have the added challenge of being relatively new to the game of being 'out there.' Most people would not have had anything to do with my agency and there are a whole load of different perceptions about the work we do that are either based on the movies or people's different views of state power."
He cited the role of the NZSIS Muslim Advisory Group and engagement with Māori and Pacific communities to ensure security advice is relevant and culturally sensitive.
Hampton underlined the importance of public contribution, saying, "As a result, we have received on average 20 percent of our leads from members of the public in recent years." He argued against the view that national security is solely the responsibility of the state, saying the increasingly complex environment requires broader involvement.
He further highlighted the necessity of "social licence" in maintaining agency legitimacy and being able to deploy necessary capabilities with public support and robust oversight: "Social licence is also vital for us to be seen as a legitimate organisation that can responsibly use the extraordinary powers we have at our disposal, once properly authorised, to detect, deter and disrupt these threats."
Discussing new and emerging technology, Hampton noted, "We are going to need to act quickly to properly join the AI revolution and harness the best parts of the technology as a force for good. And we are getting to the point of needing new capabilities and authorities so we can effectively disrupt certain threat actors." He said this will require ongoing public engagement to explain the necessity, safeguards, and accountability for such powers.
Hampton concluded: "What I think we have proven though is that there is a burgeoning demand for clear and actionable intelligence and advice and that people are up for the discussion. The benefits for our national security are at least threefold: we enlist the help of more people to support our efforts; we contribute to resilient communities and resilient organisations; and we build and maintain the social licence we need to do our jobs. That means demand for rich, powerful and impactful intelligence produced by highly trained professionals is not going away any time soon. What might change is the range of people who get the privilege of reading your excellent work."
