NZ disputes report that it spied on journalist

The strongest evidence against the idea again comes from the AP, in the form of a partial admission from the New Zealand government -- one that even the reporter for the Star-Times called "unsettling" to his story.

New Zealand Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman acknowledged the existence of an embarrassing confidential order that lists investigative journalists alongside spies and terrorists as potential threats to New Zealand's military. That document was leaked to Hager, who provided a copy to The Associated Press. Coleman said the order will be modified to remove references to journalists.

He also said the New Zealand Defense Force had conducted an extensive search of its records over the weekend and had found no evidence that either it or any other agency had spied on Stephenson.

This is one of the side effects of the Snowden revelations. There was a time when a flat denial by a government would be sufficient. Now, governments that are complicit in the NSA's surveillance are far less likely to get the benefit of the doubt. And it may take some time before we learn if that skepticism is warranted.

But please, please don't spy on me - Murder Inc..

Cases involving foreign spies from "friendly" countries are even more rare. It is a given that the US, Britain and Australia have Intelligence officers operating here, usually under diplomatic cover. But nothing has ever been done about them, even when there have been demonstrable instances of meddling in NZ's internal political affairs, most notably by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Our "friends" the French went too far with the 1985 fatal bombing, in Auckland Harbour, of the Rainbow Warrior by its agents. Routine Police work and the sheer nosiness of ordinary Kiwis led to two of those agents being arrested, tried and imprisoned (and released in an indecently short time, as a result of crude political pressure applied by France). But that was the only previous occasion where foreign spies (not to mention bombers and killers) have been actually prosecuted.

Until 2004. One of the sensations of last year was the unmasking of an Israeli Intelligence operation in Auckland, the arrest of two operatives of Mossad (that country's external security agency), followed by their conviction, imprisonment and deportation. The whole scandal caused major outrage right across the NZ political spectrum; a diplomatic breach with Israel that remains unresolved, at the time of writing; and attracted media and political attention right around the world because of the blatant nature of the operation and the serious implications for Israel's dealings with all other "friendly" nations.

US and UK at first - later joined by Canada, New Zealand and Australia -  make up the the so-called "Five Eyes"

I'm working on a new diary to illustrate Obama's flawed thinking on whistleblowers and journalists and which advisors led to this new US trauma.

'Sapere aude'