NZ plugged into secret internet

A leaked American study into military actions in Afghanistan reveals New Zealand is quietly plugged into the world's most secret internet allowing access to the Pentagon's battle plans at strategic and tactical level.

It's known as the "Secret Internet Protocol Router Network" or SIPRNET, a sophisticated alternative to the Internet which allows even New Zealand frigates and armoured vehicles access to material seen on general's desks in Washington, London and Canberra.

New Zealand's place in the network has been incidentally revealed by whistleblower Wikileaks, which published a Rand Corporation 318 study into intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Terming it the new "Pentagon Papers" Wikileaks says the study into counter-insurgency is a notable news and policy source for its wealth of candid and revealing interview quotes which are spread throughout the document.

The Pentagon Papers, a study of the US war in Vietnam, were leaked in 1971 and substantially changed the conduct of the war and helped bring down President Richard Nixon.

As well as New Zealand's SIPRNET place the new study offers insights into praise for Australian and New Zealand intervention in the Solomon Islands and the revelation that one of the best military sources for Arabic speakers is the Fijian Army.

Each page of the leaked Rand paper is headed and footed with the reference: "UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY//REL TO USA/AUS/NZL/ISR/NATO".

A notice in it says the document was for US Government Agencies and NATO, Australia, New Zealand and Israel.

Rand says in Iraq and Afghanistan coalition forces often did not have access to US intelligence and said in cases this had put British soldiers at "mortal risk".

As a result the US National Security Agency and Defense Department opened SIPRNET "to a small pool of trusted allies, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand".

New Zealand has no forces in Iraq but a reconstruction team works in Afghanistan and occasionally the Special Air Service are deployed. It was in a US supported operation in 2007 that SAS Corporal Willie Apiata won a Victoria Cross for bravery.

Wellington's high level of trust contrasts with the official political line that New Zealand is a friend but not an ally of the United States as a result of its ban on nuclear weapons.

New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp declined comment on the report" "we don't discuss security matters," he said through a spokesman.

A spokeswoman at the US Embassy in Wellington said they had a policy of not commenting on security or intelligence matters.

"What I can say is that the U.S. considers New Zealand a partner, a teammate and an extremely close friend. Bilateral communication is an obvious part of such a friendship but the specific mechanisms we use for government-to-government communication are not something we discuss publically."

Little is known of the technical details of SIPRNET, which is a closed system with no access to the internet. This protects it from virus attacks and users are strictly forbidden from plugging USB drives into SIPRNET terminals .

It runs several portals such as the Global Command and Control System and the Defense Message System which link to classified military databases.

Although believed to be fairly open to its users, the US maintains a category in it called NOFORN for "not for foreigners". This restricts some information.

Last year the Colonel Mike Convertino of the US Air Force Cyber Command told computer media that SIPRNET was completely separated from the public internet.

"We conduct wars on SIPRNET," he said. "So it's very important that there is little-to-no chance that it can be interfered with."

- © Fairfax NZ News