Neil Edwards@njedwards19651
👀 The New Zealand Govt with "Palantir" Spying & The Whistleblower Edward Snowden
🇳🇿 NZ is allegedly the first country outside the U.S.A to deploy Palantir’s data analytics software within its government agencies, with contracts reportedly dating back to 2012
⚠️ The U.S.A National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by Snowden included info about the NZ surveillance program detailing spying on millions of citizens incl: @KimDotcom & overseas officials-which was a joint effort between NZ's Government Communications Security Bureau
(GCSB) & the U.S. NSA to covertly tap international undersea cables for mass data collection, for the purpose of spying
April 2012- The plan to develop "Speargun" began under the guise of "Initiative 7418" when Cabinet asked the GCSB to develop an advanced cyber protection strategy
July 2012 -June 2013 A warrant was sought & granted for "Phase 1" of Speargun. The GCSB confirmed this warrant ensured they could undertake preliminary work as part of the business case Cabinet requested
Early 2013- Phase I of Speargun was implemented by the GCSB & the U.S. NSA
March 2013- PM Key publicly claimed he cancelled Speargun because it was "too intrusive." A meeting was held with the GCSB over Speargun at this time, & a press release later stated: PM tells GCSB not to bring business case forward. & then Informs the GCSB "it is too broad"
April 2013- Cabinet documents show Speargun had its funding extended through to June the following year-directly contradicting Key's claim it was dead, 👀 A LIE
June 12 2013- In Parliament, Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman accused the government of "conspiring to establish a surveillance state," noting Palantir had opened a Wellington office & was advertising for an "embedded analyst" requiring a government security clearance.
June 12 2013- John Key dismissed the claims, saying he had only met Palantir's Peter Thiel a "few times," & denied discussing intelligence matters with him.
(⚠️ Key had also given Theil citizenship in 2011 bypassing normal requirements )
June 2013- Snowden revealed that the GCSB was in fact participating in Speargun- a mass surveillance program tapping the Southern Cross cable for US intelligence agencies. Documents explicitly noted "Project Speargun underway." The program's goal: "sniff it all, know it all, collect it all, process it all & exploit it all" via XKEYSCORE (a Five Eyes shared database). Snowden confirmed it contained communications of "millions of New Zealanders"
July Bypassing normal requirements coordination. The document stated: "The implementation of Speargun is currently on hold pending clarification of the legislation." Crucially, Key was informed that Speargun details were likely to become public because they could be in the trove of secrets taken by Edward Snowden
August 2013 ⚠️Key publicly vowed to RESIGN if mass surveillance of New Zealanders was ever proven (The January election was just months away)
July 2013- A secret briefing from DPMC's intelligence director told PM Key that Speargun was "on hold pending clarification of legislation," & that Snowden might expose it. The required legislation- the GCSB Amendment Act 2013- passed on Aug 21 legalizing domestic spying for the first time. Key then halted Speargun funding on Sep 2, months after he had publicly claimed the program was dead in Mar 2013
2014- April A business case for the upgraded spyware system "Cortex" (Speargun's replacement) was developed & approved
2014- Sep At Kim Dotcom's "Moment of Truth" event, Snowden called PM Key a liar, stating Key's denial of mass surveillance is "categorically false." He claimed he personally accessed NZ's coms via the XKEYSCORE system & asserted: "If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched"
🧵1/2
