ABC Updates
13 November 2021
Disappointment with Waihopai Article on "Stuff" Today
See below for response to Thomas Manch's article, from
ABC's Warren Thomson
Murray Horton
Secretary/Organiser
Anti-Bases Campaign
Box 2258,
Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
From:
warren thomson
Sent: Saturday, 13 November 2021 2:40 PM
To:
thomas.manch@stuff.co.nz
Subject: Disappointment with Waihopai article
Hi
I usually find your articles well-written and informative, but your
recent piece on the disestablishment of the Waihopai dishes is
extremely disappointing.
-
The difference in using Hampton’s
dismissive ‘subject to a global surveillance system’ [a grossly
generalised attack on his critics] and the actual reality of GCSB
being ‘part of a global surveillance system’ is immense.
-
Regarding Five Eyes spying, the appalling
nature of it was not taken from what ‘Snowden said’ but from the
thousands of actual NSA documents that he released.
-
While Hampton says there is no mass
surveillance, former GCSB boss Bruce Ferguson actually said on
TV that there was [refuting comments by John Key]. I agree the
term ‘mass surveillance’ can be bent to almost any cause, but the
fact remains that the Waihopai dishes collected massive amounts of
data which were then sifted through for particular purposes. [Note
that throughout the Five Eyes agencies the legal/ethical usage and
disposal of data collected ‘unintentionally’ is a constant theme
of critical oversight reports.]
-
You report Hampton as dismissing the idea
that ‘we were somehow tasked by the US and others’; this is the
same man who not long ago pleaded the GCSB were blindsided prior
to the Chch mass shooting event because they were too
preoccupied with following the priorities of their Five eyes
partners.
-
It would be good to see more
investigation into how the GCSB will now carry out its spying
tasks; including whether the planned new pacific cable will have a
lead through a Five eyes base like all the other cables are
reputed to do.
I understand you are extremely busy and under constant work pressure. But
can I ask that your next article related to NZ’s spook be given a
little more time and investigation. We need our most respected journos
to keep on the ball.
Regards
Warren Thomson
Member of the Anti Bases Campaign with keen interest in NZ spy history.