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Citizen A: Bomber Bradbury, Selwyn Manning & David Slack on PM-GCSB-Police Oddities & Govt’s Meltdown
Martyn Bomber Bradbury, Selwyn Manning and David Slack analyse the big issues of the week:
Issue 1: 2 inquires, 1 Police investigation , spies meeting in Wellington, Key visiting Hollywood and an official apology – how much more weird can the Kim Dotcom scandal get?
Issue 2: Does the Education Ministry’s handling of school closures in Christchurch make the GCSB illegal spying look competent?
and Issue 3: If crime is down, why are we building a new billion dollar private prison?
Citizen A broadcasts weekly on Triangle TV and webcasts on Tumeke Blog and LiveNews.co.nz.
Helen Clark called intelligence the crown jewel. She loved the feed from the intelligence agencies. During the Clark years the intelligence services role expanded and the development of links with the police seemed designed mainly for PR to suggest to the public that the CGSB had auseful local role beyond electronic and wireless surveillance of the North and South Pacific mainly listening to submarine and naval traffic.
The link between the services seems to be in neither the interest of the police or GCSB. It is arguably that in the Kim dot.com affair that dot.com’s mansion might have been a fortress of encypering equipment and electronic countermeasures and GCSB involvement was justified if the raid was.
Really there seems very little role for the GCSB to spy on its own citizens. Almost always the police and SIS will have adequate resources.
During Murdochs tenure as head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade client relations were developed between Foreign Affairs and NZ University Law Schools and History and Political Science departments. It is well known that Foreign Affairs and Trade are hostile to academic work that intrudes into its area of operational interest.
During my studies in the Canterbury University History Honours school in 2006, I was told by staff that I would be marked down if I didn’t stop concentrating on Defence topics and avoid detail on such matters. My first two papers were reduced from 65% to 45% when remarked by Otago University( several Canterbury staff members said the marking of the Otago examiners was beyond explantation and they disagreed with the Otago marks) and in the final assessment it was obvious my marks had been significantly reduced in two papers to reduce me to third class. There was no actual exam work in the course ( It was an option nobody opted for).
Throughout his diplomatic and GCSB career Murdoch with Dennis McLean was the most agressive pointsman to return NZ to a full Anzus relationship. One of there main aims was the full Anzac ships project which I opposed in numerous articles for NBR, Press and Herald.