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New Zealand denies spying on journalist with US help

Admits to order listing reporters as possible threats

New Zealander Jon Stephenson, a freelance journalist, reported on the treatment of Afghan prisoners.Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald/file

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand on Monday disputed a newspaper report saying its military conspired with US spy agencies to monitor a freelance journalist in Afghanistan, a report that has provoked concerns over how surveillance programs revealed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden might be used to spy on reporters.

The New Zealand government said Monday there is no evidence to support a report in the Sunday Star-Times newspaper that the military was assisted by the United States in monitoring the phone data of journalist Jon Stephenson, a New Zealander working for the US-based McClatchy news organization.

The report is the first indication that the NSA's techniques may have been used to spy on a journalist. It challenges US claims that the NSA programs were not used to target specific individuals, but rather to compile large pools of usage data.

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Prime Minister John Key fanned the debate Monday by saying it is possible that reporters could get caught in surveillance nets when the US spies on enemy combatants. New Zealand and the United States are party to a five-country agreement on sharing intelligence information.

US surveillance programs have become the focus of a global debate since Snowden, a former defense contract worker, leaked classified information about the NSA in June. The United States says the NSA programs are necessary to avert terror attacks, while critics have called it unregulated spying.

Military officials in Wellington were quick to reject the claims in the article by freelance investigative reporter and liberal activist Nicky Hager. He wrote that the military became unhappy at Stephenson's reporting on how it treated Afghan prisoners.

''We have identified no information at this time that supports Mr. Hager's claims,'' Major General Tim Keating, the acting defense force chief, said in a statement.

He said the military officers responsible for operations in Afghanistan had assured him there had been no unlawful monitoring of Stephenson by New Zealand. ''This includes asking foreign organizations to do this on our behalf,'' he said.

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Also Monday, New Zealand Defense Minister Jonathan Coleman acknowledged the existence of an embarrassing confidential order that lists investigative journalists alongside spies and terrorists as potential threats to New Zealand's military. That document was leaked to Hager, who provided a copy to the Associated Press. Coleman said the order will be modified to remove references to journalists.

He also said the New Zealand Defense Force had conducted an extensive search of its records over the weekend and had found no evidence that either it or any other agency had spied on Stephenson.

''The collection of metadata on behalf of the NZDF by the US would not be a legitimate practice, when practiced on a New Zealand citizen,'' Coleman said. ''It wouldn't be something I would support as the minister, and I'd be very concerned if that had actually been the case.''

Metadata is the information associated with a phone call or an e-mail, such as the location of the caller or sender, or the length of the call. It is analogous to the information available on the envelope of a letter sent by regular mail.

Prime Minister Key told a reporter from The New Zealand Herald newspaper that ''if you rang a member of the Taliban that the Americans were monitoring because they believed them to be a threat, then in theory that's how you could show up.''

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''I'm not saying that's happened. I'm just saying that we don't go and monitor journalists,'' he added.

On Monday, Hager said he stood by the story.

''Direct denials are always unsettling, but I would not have published unless I had a really good source,'' he said.

Hager, who has written several books on New Zealand military intelligence, declined to elaborate on his sourcing. He said he has faced unwarranted denials before.