LANGE'S LAST LAUGH - 16/1/2006
49814,1/16/2006 23:41,06
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01/16/2013
TAGS: PINR, PREL, NZ
SUBJECT: LANGE'S LAST LAUGH
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David R. Burnett; reasons 1.4 (B and D ).
1. (C) Former NZ Prime Minister David Lange's private papers included a copy of the highly classified 1985-86 Government
Communications Security Bureau annual report detailing its activities, including cooperation with the U.S. National
Security Agency. According to an article in the January 15 Sunday Star-Times newspaper, the paper had been given
permission by Archives NZ - and by the Labour Cabinet - to view the documents following Lange's death in August 200
5. It is not clear if the Cabinet was aware that the papers included a GCSB document, but Cabinet Chief Executive
Maarten Wevers told Charge January 16 that his staff should have known the document was there and removed it from the
archivable materials. Wevers said he was under instructions from duty Minister Jim Anderton to review Cabinet and GCSB
procedures to determine how the lapse ocurred and to make sure it never happened again.
2. (S) The Sunday Star-Times also excerpted memos to Lange from then Minister of Trade & Industry David Caygill and Lange's Chief of Staff John Henderson outlining conversations with the U.S. Ambassador at
the time, covering his concerns that the anti-nuclear legislation had eroded trust in New Zealand, thereby threatening
intelligence cooperation. The newspaper stressed the Ambassador's concern that if New Zealand were expelled from the
""five-eyes"" arrangement, the door would be opened for the United States to conduct intelligence gathering operations
against the Kiwis. The Star-Times labelled the then Ambassador's language ""a clear threat"" and ""bully tactics,"" even
though the language used made clear that the Ambassador was raising a potential concern and did not know whether the
aftermath of the anti-nuclear flap would result in expulsion of New Zealand from the SIGINT community.
3. (C) Comment: The Star-Times article is an embarrassment to the Government and to the Prime Minister personally, since
she is the Minister charged with intelligence oversight. It raises questions about the Government's competence and its
""non-aligned"" credentials. The PM values the intelligence relationship very highly. It has ensured that New Zealand
still has some access and influence in Washington while allowing Clark to maintain the Labour Party's public ambivalence
about the U.S. at home. Maarten Wevers told Charge that Clark has instructed he and Minister Anderton to kill the story
as quickly as possible, so that she does not have to face questions about the U.S.-NZ intelligence relationship during
CDR PACOM Fallon's visit to New Zealand later this week. End Comment.
4. (C) Embassy will not address the intelligence relationship even on background. However, we do intend to background
select journalists on our view of the former Ambassador's comments about the importance of trust, stressing the
difference between an honest diplomatic exchange on matters of mutual concern and ""bullying."" A fairly accurate and
sympathetic two-part docudrama on the ANZUS crisis has just aired over the past two weekends, and has created an
appetite for discussion of the U.S.-New Zealand relationship (and the late David Lange's lack of veracity) which we
would like to exploit while we can.
5. (U) Full text of the Sunday Star-Times article can be found at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/ Burnett ",16/01/2006