NZ spy base attacked

The attack by peace activists on a US spy base in New Zealand, which reportedly caused over NZ$1 million (US$770,000) in damage, drew strong condemnation from Prime Minister Helen Clark who described the actions of the three ANZAC Ploughshares members as "senseless vandalism."

ANZAC Ploughshares spokesperson Graham Cameron described the infiltration to ISA: "They cut through three fences and then deflated one of the covers over one of the two satellite dishes there. After they had done that they set up a shrine and prayed for the victims of the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq and other victims of wars around the world."

The base is situated at Waihopai near Blenheim in the north-east of New Zealand's South Island.

"They are extremely naive and obviously of an extremist nature and zealots," the director of Wellington's Center for Strategic Studies, Peter Cozens said of the protesters.

MP Ron Marks from the center-right NZ First party claimed that the "idiots" who broke into the base are part of a "fifth column" of New Zealand activists.

"It is concerning that the media and people like Ron and other commentators want to move the issue to focus on the activists rather than to focus on the symbol," Cameron said, rejecting Mark's fifth column designation outright.

Support for the protesters has come from left-wing peace and political movements and elements of the media.

A previous NZ government acknowledged that the base was a satellite tracking facility. Peace groups claim that the dishes are used to monitor civilian communications traffic relayed via satellites passing above the Pacific equator on behalf of US intelligence agencies.

Ploughshares is a name that has been used by otherwise unassociated peace groups involved in a series of direct, non-violent actions against military weapons and systems since the 1980s.

ANZAC Ploughshares' core membership appears to hail predominantly from the "Catholic workers" tradition. The name evokes both a passage from the biblical book of Isaiah and the ANZAC (Australia-New Zealand Army Corp) military tradition.

Multi-national spy program

NZ intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), bears titular responsibility for the operation of Waihopai and a second purported spy station at Tangimoana in the country's North Island.

However, activists who entered the Waihopai site during previous protests reported signs warning that they were entering a US Defense Department facility.

"Waihopai is one of six satellite tracking stations in the Echelon program. Our understanding is that it gathers e-mail, telephone and other electronic communications from the western Pacific and that information is taken by the GCSB and passed sight unseen to the US military and other intelligence agencies," Cameron said.

Investigative reporter Nicky Hagar, who has written a book on Echelon, claims that the international spy station program is run by the US National Security Agency (NSA). Supporters argue that the system also picks up military intelligence.

Referring to Echelon Cozen said, "It's a brand name really. The program itself; the entire facility is dedicated to providing information for the purposes of the New Zealand government and it is up to the New Zealand government how it uses it."

He supports the intelligence gathering role of Waihopai as "our part in looking after the international order."

Information captured through satellite tracking and other means is reportedly processed through computers utilizing key-word recognition programs to glean messages of interest to the NSA and its partner intelligence organizations.

"We collect our information and of course we can trade it with other nations; particularly with the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA," Cozens said.

Cameron told ISA: "We know of two instances where that information has been used. The first was in 2000 when that information was used to give commercial advantage to US corporations."

"The second was in 2003 when that information was used to spy on UN diplomats [in the western Pacific] and to essentially ascertain their views on a number of issues that were of interest to the US," he said.

Healing the breach

The existence of the US spy bases and NZ involvement in the Afghan and Iraqi occupations - NZ troops have been withdrawn from Basra in southern Iraq but remain in Afghanistan's Bamiyan province - underlines that the break in relations caused by NZ's nuclear-free status elides ongoing security coordination with the US.

"The relationship between Washington and Wellington has certainly warmed in the last few years," Cozens confirmed.

"Clark has been to see the [US] president twice and I think there is a realization that, although the anti-nuclear legislation is a great big rock in the road, there is a willingness on both sides now to circumlocute it […] and work more closely together in terms of improving security, broadly defined."

Cozens added that "the employment of Special Air Service [SAS] troops on a number of covert [Afghan] missions has certainly drawn a lot of appreciation from Washington."

With NZ and Australia seeking to strengthen their trade ties with China, both Australasian states will be watched closely by analysts in coming decades for signs that China's rapidly developing naval presence in the northern Pacific and civil and political influence in the South Pacific could lead to building tensions with US allies.

Waihopai, which commenced operations in 1989, is an apparent effort, on the part of the NZ government, to demonstrate a renewed commitment to its strategic relationship with the US.

Cameron agrees that, "There has been a strong effort in the past nine years by the Clark government to build a stronger connection with the US."

"At the time of the decision to invade Iraq the NZ government was ambivalent but, other than that, we have seen a general pattern that they have been very supportive of US actions and have freely offered troops and equipment," he said.

Police announced Friday that they would not be pressing sabotage charges against the three protestors, sufficing with trespass and intention criminal damage indictments.

The Clark government appears determined to downplay Wednesday's Waihopai action as it seeks to prevent a wider public debate on its part in the Echelon espionage network. It will be difficult for protest groups to draw popular attention towards the US-NZ strategic relationship heading towards elections later this year, likely to focus on domestic issues.

Nevertheless, Cameron remains optimistic: "We are certainly hoping that [New Zealand's] relationship with the war on terror is an issue that will be heightened in the public's awareness as a result of this, and that we continue building on the opportunity to have a public debate on these issues."