SIS report

The SIS annual report is now out on their site. It aroused media comment for mentioning the threat from Islamist terrorists but far more interesting to me was the breakdown of their activities.

During the year under review sixteen (16) domestic interception warrants were in force. Of those, thirteen (13) were issued during the year under review, and three (3) were issued during the previous year but remained
in force for some part of the year under review. Action was taken under all domestic warrants during the year under review. The average length of time for which those warrants were in force during the year under review was 165 days. There were no amendments under section 4D of the Act. The methods of interception and seizure used were listening devices and the copying of documents.

This statement rules out the widespread and lengthy computer monitoring that had been alleged for Operation Leaf, making it likely that it was "complete fiction".

The Sunday Star Times has been backpedalling from their story although their reasons for doing so look thin. Their sources won't talk to them? If the paper did their job properly, they would have had all the information they needed before publication. It seems likely to me that the Sunday Star Times were waiting on further collaboration of the allegations but have been stone-walled.