NZSIS Annual Report 2025

New Zealand is facing the most challenging national security environment of recent times. Our Annual Report outlines in considerable detail the unique and highly valued contributions the NZSIS has made to New Zealand’s national security in this challenging environment over the past year. However, national security is not something that can be left to our agency alone. 

It remains important to us that we talk to New Zealanders about this as much as we can, and engage with New Zealanders about mitigating national security risks. A strategic focus of our work is to deliver impact with and for others. This is about working with groups and organisations from around New Zealand to keep our country safe and secure. We also work closely with like-minded partners to support New Zealand’s national security interests and keep New Zealanders safe.

While secrecy remains crucial for us to be able to do our jobs, there is a clear need to balance that with New Zealanders’ right to know what we do in their name and the threats we face as a country. You will see this reflected in our reported performance measures in this report. There are some aspects of our work that lend themselves to quantitative performance measures, such as vetting - where I am pleased to say we exceeded our targets. But for other areas, such as intelligence, it can be harder to give a quantitative measure of success.

New Zealand faces a varied and complex number of security threats. Foreign interference activities continue in New Zealand with several states responsible. This includes activities regarded as transnational repression that often target diaspora communities. Some foreign states attempt to exploit people in a deceptive, corruptive, or coercive manner, to gain influence and further their interests. In addition, we have seen some foreign states target New Zealand’s critical organisations, infrastructure and technology.

The level of foreign interference activity in New Zealand remains an ongoing concern for us. Foreign interference has the potential to harm New Zealand’s ability to act in our own interests as an independent nation. No one living in New Zealand should have to put up with any activity that limits their rights and freedoms. We remain alert to this threat and continue to call out this behaviour.

We also remain alert to the threat of violent extremism and terrorism. The most plausible domestic violent extremist attack scenario remains a lone actor who has radicalised online and prepares for violence without any intelligence forewarning. Grievances and polarising issues in the online information space are almost certainly driving support for a range of violent extremist ideologies within New Zealand. No single ideology currently stands out as presenting a greater threat than the others, but young and vulnerable people in New Zealand are particularly at risk of radicalisation. Our resources, including our annual threat environment report, can help inform New Zealanders of the challenges we face as a country, and help us work together to address them. 

NZSIS is continually working with our domestic and international partners to detect and investigate individuals who may be radicalising to violent extremism or conducting foreign interference and espionage activity against New Zealand or the Pacific. However, the NZSIS is not an all-seeing security intelligence agency, and nor should we be, in a democracy like New Zealand’s. More often than not, members of the public will see concerning behaviours and activities before we do. It remains important that this sort of concerning behaviour is reported either to us or NZ Police; this can be done anonymously.

Like other public services agencies, the NZSIS has been operating in a more fiscally constrained environment this reporting year, while continuing to deliver more value for the people we serve. Together with the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), we undertook a change process in 2024/25 as part of a joint financial sustainability programme, to ensure we are efficient, financially sustainable, and well-equipped to face the evolving threatscape. We are cognisant of the ongoing fiscal constraint that we continue to operate under.

We could not have achieved this without the commitment and talent of our diverse staff. I remain deeply grateful for all their hard work.

Ngā mihi nui,

Andrew Hampton
Te Tumu Whakarae mō Te Pā Whakamarumaru
Director-General of Security

I am responsible as Director-General of the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) for:

• The preparation of the NZSIS’s statement of expenses and capital expenditure, and for the judgements made in them;
  
  
• Having in place a system of internal control designed to provide reasonable assurance as to the integrity and reliability of financial reporting;
  
  
• Ensuring that end of year performance information on each appropriation administered by the NZSIS is provided in accordance with sections 19A to 19C of the Public Finance Act 1989, whether or not that information is included in this annual report; and
  
  
• The accuracy of any end of year performance information prepared by the NZSIS, whether or not that information is included in the annual report.

In my opinion:

• This annual report fairly reflects the operations, progress and organisational health and capability of the NZSIS; and 
  
  
• The Statement of Expenses and Capital Expenditure against Appropriation fairly reflects the total actual expenses and capital expenditure incurred for the year against the NZSIS’s appropriation for the financial year ended 30 June 2025.

Andrew Hampton
Te Tumu Whakarae mō Te Pā Whakamarumaru
Director-General of Security

30 September 2025

Our mission

Our mission is keeping New Zealand and New Zealanders safe and secure.

Our functions

We operate under the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (ISA), the purpose of which is to protect New Zealand as a free, open, and democratic society. To effectively do this, we are charged with four core functions:  

• intelligence collection and analysis
• protective security services, advice and assistance
• co-operation with other public authorities to facilitate their functions, and
• co-operation with other entities to respond to imminent threat. 

The NZSIS is New Zealand’s domestic security intelligence agency and lead organisation for human intelligence (HUMINT). We collect and analyse intelligence in line with the Government’s priorities to provide decision-makers with sound national security advice. We also provide a range of protective security services to other government agencies. While primarily domestic focused, our work in the Pacific is becoming of increasingly important as a result of geostrategic competition in the region.

Our people

Our people come from across our society and work in a variety of roles. As at 30 June 2025, the NZSIS has 396.1 full time equivalent (FTE) employees. We have shared enablement functions with the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). Many of our shared staff are employed by the GCSB but work across both agencies. This supports ease of cooperation between our agencies in a cost efficient manner.

Our funding

We are funded through Vote Security Intelligence. The Minister Responsible for the NZSIS is responsible for the single appropriation within this Vote.

The NZSIS’s Statement of Expenses and Capital Expenditure Against Appropriation is on page 40.