Intelligence Service says finding domestic threats is harder due to proliferation of toxic content online
New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has claimed Chinese companies are building space facilities in the nation to gather military intelligence.Director-general of security Andrew Hampton yesterday made that allegation in the SIS’s annual threat environment assessment.The document points out that New Zealand’s space sector is booming, because the nation’s location makes it “an ideal place to install Ground Based Space Infrastructure (GBSI) … to track satellites and space debris, as well as for collecting a range of other scientific data.”
The NZSIS has also found that GBSI is “attractive for foreign states seeking to advance military capabilities and intelligence operations.”
The report offers a case study of a China-based organization called “Purple Mountain Observatory” that has “close links” to Beijing and tried to install GBSI in New Zealand.“They worked with a local company that was likely unaware of the equipment’s capability to collect intelligence of military value and would have no idea who was receiving the data,” the report states, before noting that Chinese laws mean Purple Mountain could be compelled to provide information to China’s government.The intelligence agency believes Purple Mountain “would have … willingly passed on” data it collected.“NZSIS, working with other agencies was able to disrupt this activity, but it was not the first time this organisation has attempted to install its own GBSI in New Zealand and is unlikely to be the last.”The report rates China as the only country targeting New Zealand at scale, based on activity NZSIS has been able to observe.
