QUESTION FOR WRITTEN ANSWER ON TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER 1997
Jeanette FITZSIMMONS to the Minister in charge of the New Zealand
Security Intelligence Service:
How many conferences and meetings has the Government Communications Security
Bureau helped to organise on security issues, for instance computer security
and information security, during the last two years, and what was the name,
date, location, subject and target audience of each?
Answer:
Hon Jenny Shipley (Minister in charge of the New Zealand Security Intelligence
Service) to reply:
The GCSB has organised or helped to organise a number of national and
international meetings on security issues during the last two years, details
relating to which are classified for reasons of national security
[1].
The GCSB has not organised or helped to organise any public conferences or
meetings on security issues during the last two years.
[1] "The debate on national cryptography policy can be carried out on an
unclassified basis [...] secrecy has been used to stifle public debate and
conceal poorly conceived and ill-informed national policies" - US
government-commissioned report on cryptography by the National Research
Council, "a comprehensive independant review of national encryption policy".
The real reason why the GCSB details are classified should be obvious.