The Hon Sir John Jeffries has been appointed as the first Commissioner of Security Warrants, Prime Minister and Minister in Charge of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Jenny Shipley said today.

The position was established by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Amendment Act (No.2) 1999, which came into effect on 1 September. The Commissioner will issue domestic interception warrants jointly with the Minister in Charge of the NZSIS.

Sir John is currently the Chairman of the Press Council, and was the Police Complaints Authority for five years. He is a retired Judge of the High Court of New Zealand. He takes up his appointment today (9 September 1999) for a three year term.

The Hon Laurence Greig, who is also a retired Judge of the High Court of New Zealand, has been reappointed as the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security for a further three year term which commences on 1 December 1999.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>