By Eugene Bingham
Foreign spies attempting to obtain secret information from highly placed Government officials have been tracked down by New Zealand's own intelligence agencies.
Confirmation that a number of countries have agents at work here comes as allegations circulate on the Internet about a spy attached to the British High Commission
in Wellington.
The Director-General of the Security Intelligence Service, Don McIver, has briefed top politicians about the level of espionage from other countries' agents.
"We have identified a number of intelligence officers from foreign nations living and working under cover in our country," Mr McIver said in a document prepared for the Intelligence and Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley.
"They have been sent to target senior Government officials as well as their own communities of expatriates and emigres to pursue their homeland policies, often to New Zealand's disadvantage."
A list of more than 100 people alleged to be agents for Britain's MI6 has been posted on Internet sites around the world and includes the name of a 49-year-old first secretary at the British High Commission in Wellington.
Publication of the list has been blamed on a disgraced former spy, New Zealand-born Richard Tomlinson.
Mr Tomlinson denied involvement yesterday, telling British newspapers his former bosses had linked him to the scandal in a bid to discredit him and make him look like a traitor.
Researcher Nicky Hager, who has written extensively about New Zealand's intelligence community, said the United States, Australia and Canada probably had active agents in Wellington.
Mr Hager said the revelations should be a wake-up call about the level of influence New Zealand is subjected to at an "invisible" level.
A spy's role would probably include liaison with New Zealand's agencies - particularly the Government Communications Security Bureau, which operates a number of powerful spy bases - and writing secret reports on New Zealand issues, probably gleaned from Government sources.
Mr Hager said the British High Commission staffer also probably helped seek New Zealand contributions to secret British military operations overseas.
The Auckland-based group Information on Ireland said it was particularly concerned because of MI6 involvement in the Northern Ireland conflict.
A spokesman for the British Foreign Office refused to confirm or deny if the official was an MI6 agent.
