Deputy Public Service Commissioner Ms Heather Baggott has today announced the appointment of Mr Andrew Hampton to the position of Director-General of Security and Chief Executive, New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS).

The role of the NZSIS is to understand and mitigate threats to New Zealand’s national security and advise government Ministers and other decision makers on national security matters. The NZSIS does this by detecting, investigating and mitigating national security threats, collecting intelligence relevant to the security of New Zealand and the region and providing protective security advice to help government agencies better protect their people, information and assets from threats.

“I’m very pleased to appoint Mr Hampton to this role,” Ms Baggott said.

“Mr Hampton is a highly respected and skilled senior public service leader with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the national security sector in New Zealand.”

Mr Hampton is currently the Director-General and Chief Executive of the Government Communication Security Bureau (GCSB), a role he has held since April 2016. As the Director-General, Mr Hampton led a transformation of the agency’s capabilities, service offerings, stakeholder relations and public reputation while responding to a period of significant disruption.

“As Chief Executive of the GCSB, Mr Hampton led both the Intelligence and Cyber Security functions, including being Government Chief Information Security Officer (GCISO), which bear many similarities to the functions of the NZSIS,” said Ms Baggott.

Mr Hampton holds a Master’s (Distinction) of Political Sciences and Bachelor’s Honours (first class) of Political Science from the University of Canterbury.

He has been appointed for five years from 17 April 2023.

Biography

Since 2016, Mr Hampton has been in the role of Director-General and Chief Executive of the Communications Security Bureau.

From 2014 to 2016 he was Government Chief Talent Officer at Te Kawa Mataaho, Public Service Commission. For five months in 2015 he was Deputy State Service Commissioner.

Between 2013 and 2014 he was Deputy Secretary for Education and Director of the Office of the Secretary.

Before this (2011-2013) Mr Hampton was Deputy Chief Executive at Crown Law Office, on a fixed term secondment.

He was Deputy Secretary Courts at the Ministry of Justice (2010-2011) and from 2005 to 2010 he was General Manager Higher Courts.

Mr Hampton worked at the Office of Treaty Settlements from 1995 to 2005, his last four years as Director.

He started his public service career as a senior policy analyst at Te Puni Kōkiri (1995-1997).

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