Carterton man to take over as NZ?s spymaster

Carterton man and newly appointed Security Intelligence Service director Warren Tucker says his career in the murky world of intelligence came by accident.
Dr Tucker, now heading the Government Communications Security Bureau, takes up his new role in November, replacing Richard Woods.
In the 1980s Dr Tucker was based in Washington as first secretary in the New Zealand Embassy and previously served as an army officer in the Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals. Dr Tucker has a bachelor of engineering and PhD in electrical engineering.
"I didn't set out to make a career in intelligence. I was working in secure communications systems, and briefly in defence protecting networks, and moved to the GCSB from there. I came in through the back door ? by accident."
"I was in a gatekeeper role and moved to more the poacher role -?both roles co-exist within this new appointment."
Dr Tucker has spent almost 25 years in intelligence and security agencies for New Zealand, including six years as director of GCSB after serving as intelligence co-ordinator in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
He said his posting to the SIS offers the opportunity to use a complementary suite of intelligence capabilities with "a broader scope and a broader sense of what security means".
"I have to say that intelligence consists of a lot of painstaking detailed work and putting the pieces together ? things don't happen in isolation."
He said the position would also bring into focus his commitment that New Zealand comes "first and foremost".
Dr Tucker had earlier this year made unprecedented statements as the GCSB director, defending it against accusations that the organisation spied on New Zealanders and served US interests.
"If there is a source of tension between New Zealand and international interests, the policies and expectations of our government take primacy ? there will be no either or situation."
Dr Tucker and his wife Pauline shifted to Carterton nine years ago and call the town home along with the eldest of their five children, Phillipa, and the newest member of their family and first granchild, Zac, 21 months old yesterday.
Three years ago Dr Tucker's father Ron also moved to Carterton and all four generations of the family now live within "about five minutes of each other".
"What Wairarapa has to offer in terms of community and with the friends we've made ? it's a balance for the pressures at work and in the city, and a grounding in the real world."
Dr Tucker said his wife works in health and that both also work "12 acres and a patch of bush" farming a small run of sheep and beef in Carterton that will also provide a downhome counter to his role as spymaster for the nation.