Rainbow Warrior

The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour on 10 July 1985 was a defining event in New Zealand’s history.

Recognising the continuing interest in the bombing and its aftermath, the NZSIS has declassified several records illustrating our role in the ensuing investigation.

These records provide some colourful insights into the Service’s developing assessment of what happened as strands of information were woven together in the weeks, months and years following the bombing.

Despite the passage of time, it has been necessary to continue to protect some information, largely for national security and privacy reasons.

This document was written by an NZSIS analyst, now deceased, who developed significant insight into the personality of DGSE agents Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart. The analyst became, in the words of former NZSIS Director Brigadier Lin Smith, “a valued commentator on their demeanour, morale and attitudes”.

The document was written in January 1986, allowing the analyst time to form the assessment based on the information available to the Service in the months after the bombing.

Written in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, the attack plan provides an insight into the analysis done when NZSIS staff were seeking to interpret the flow of information coming in when the full facts had yet to emerge. The scenarios outlined in this paper were initial takes that helped build up the eventual picture of how events unfolded.

Brigadier Lin Smith was the Director of Security when the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. He compiled this aide memoire in 1996, five years after he retired. The document provides an interesting insight into how the incident was viewed 11 years later by one of the key players in New Zealand’s response. Brigadier Smith was Director of Security from 1983 to 1991.