GCSB Minister Judith Collins has been asked about the Israel-Iran data breach, but says she does not comment on intelligence matters. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
New Zealand spy agencies and the government are tight-lipped about being caught up in a leak of top secret documents that assessed Israel's plans to attack Iran.
An investigation into who had access is underway in the United States - and that encompasses the Five Eyes intelligence group that includes New Zealand.
Sharing military-linked intelligence or technology raises the risk of leaks or hacks, but several new moves are still being made on that front.
These include the US loosening rules around selling space technology to close allies, and the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) collaborating more with military forces on ground targeting.
A third move - a new deal between eight spaceports in six countries - excludes New Zealand. Despite several studies into building launchpads at Kaitorete Spit in Canterbury, Space Minister Judith Collins said on Monday: "We have no plans to fund a spaceport, but Tāwhaki Aerospace Centre provides excellent services for horizontal liftoff - not vertical."
A document compiled by the NGA is in the Israel-Iran leak.
The NGA - which is under pressure in the US to help military commanders more - is both a combat support and a core intelligence agency, and a dominant part of an allied geospatial intelligence system (ASG).
The ASG includes GEOINT New Zealand, a team of Defence Force and spy agency people.
GEOINT - or geospatial intelligence - like much space technology, has dual uses across military and civilian/commercial applications, such as for mappings and responding to natural disasters.
Part of the ASG's job description is building "integrated and mutually supportive allied GEOINT enterprise to meet individual and collective warfighting and intelligence needs".
"Working together, the FVEY partners provide each other global, regional and civil GEOINT support," it said.
Asked about the Israel-Iran breach, the GCSB spy agency and its Minister Judith Collins both said they did not comment on intelligence matters.
The GCSB recently cut its budget by $7 million, including around training and development.
Asked if this could impact on its ability to keep information secure, it said the headcount between it and the SIS was actually slightly higher in 2024.
"The intelligence agencies have also undertaken a joint work programme to ensure their financial sustainability in the current fiscal environment," the GCSB said.
"Information security is always a fundamental priority for the intelligence agencies."
The Green Party has been pushing back, asking in Parliament if New Zealand was being careful enough about links to the US's increasing moves in space to integrate its allies, when these might aid Israel during the war in Gaza.
The government has dismissed the concerns.
"Is the Minister [Collins] aware that [US firm] BlackSky... has a contract to supply high temporal frequency images and analysis to the Israeli Defence ministry and if so, will this prohibit further launches from New Zealand and if not, why not?," the Greens asked this month.
Collins responded: "Yes, I am aware. National interest for payload permit applications... is reviewed on a case-by-case basis."
To another similar question, Collins said: "The presence or not of a specific piece of military equipment belonging to another country in a third country is not related to New Zealand's domestic regulatory process for space launch."
These questions are likely to come up more often, with New Zealand welcoming a new Pentagon strategy to use commercial space companies more, especially for rapid launches of small satellites to build a web in low-earth orbit.
Dual use military-civilian technology has been carried in rocket launches from Mahia. A US firm that sells satellite imagery to the US and Ukraine governments to monitor the Ukrainian war sent a payload up in August.
The US's "commercial augmentation strategy" sits alongside its new, looser export controls over space tech-sharing with allies.
Last week's announcement follows five years of US industry complaints that the strict International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) was stopping space exports.
The changes reclassified many space technologies as commercial items rather than weapons, removing commercial satellites from the US Munitions List.
Collins told RNZ the government welcomed "any efforts to reduce barriers to space cooperation with the US".
Australia and the UK have got a headstart on sharing of space technology under the Aukus military pact.
Nato is poised to put out its first commercial space strategy in 2025 similar to the Pentagon's six-month-old one, that seeks to build a new relationship between military and industry.
The sharing of military-linked intelligence is also advancing, with the NGA setting up a joint centre with the Pentagon's Space Force in August, to help military combat commands get faster access to commercial satellite imaging, such as for tracking targets.
New Zealand has made two recent moves to help the US Space Force with satellite tracking, setting up a US-funded NZDF hub in Auckland last year, and joining Operation Olympic Defender last month.
But New Zealand is not part of another new space initiative - eight spaceports in six countries have just signed a "first-ever" deal to collaborate and set standards in the growing space industry.
Space Centre Australia called it a "significant step forward in the development of global spaceport operations".
It has both commercial and military aspects, and would provide "a platform for the sector to authoritatively engage with the regulatory, defence and security agencies of Government, as space becomes an increasingly important item on the strategic agenda of global political leaders", Space Centre Australia chair Scott Morrison said.
New Zealand has one of the world's busiest commercial spaceports at Mahia, although it is exclusively for use by Rocket Lab.
Rocket Lab's share price on the US Nasdaq has almost doubled in one year.
Tāwhaki is the government's joint-venture effort with iwi to get into space launches. While Collins said the government was committed to it and "excited" about its role in aerospace, this is understood to be the first time she has ruled out vertical launches there.
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