The New Zealand Govt with “Palantir” Spying & The Whistleblower Edward Snowden

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NZ is allegedly the first country outside the U.S.A to deploy Palantir’s data analytics software within its government agencies, with contracts reportedly dating back to 2012

The U.S.A National Security Agency (NSA) documents disclosed by Snowden included info about the NZ surveillance program detailing spying on millions of citizens incl:@KimDotcom& overseas officials-which was a joint effort between NZ’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) & the U.S. NSA to covertly tap international undersea cables for mass data collection, for the purpose of spying

April 2012- The plan to develop “Speargun” began under the guise of “Initiative 7418” when Cabinet asked the GCSB to develop an advanced cyber protection strategy

July 2012 -June 2013 A warrant was sought & granted for “Phase 1” of Speargun. The GCSB confirmed this warrant ensured they could undertake preliminary work as part of the business case Cabinet requested

Early 2013- Phase I of Speargun was implemented by the GCSB & the U.S. NSA

March 2013- PM Key publicly claimed he cancelled Speargun because it was “too intrusive.” A meeting was held with the GCSB over Speargun at this time, & a press release later stated: PM tells GCSB not to bring business case forward. & then Informs the GCSB “it is too broad”

April 2013- Cabinet documents show Speargun had its funding extended through to June the following year-directly contradicting Key’s claim it was dead,

A LIE

June 12 2013- In Parliament, Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman accused the government of “conspiring to establish a surveillance state,” noting Palantir had opened a Wellington office & was advertising for an “embedded analyst” requiring a government security clearance.

June 12 2013- John Key dismissed the claims, saying he had only met Palantir’s Peter Thiel a “few times,” & denied discussing intelligence matters with him.
(Key had also given Thiel citizenship in 2011 bypassing normal requirements )

June 2013- Snowden revealed that the GCSB was in fact participating in Speargun- a mass surveillance program tapping the Southern Cross cable for US intelligence agencies. Documents explicitly noted “Project Speargun underway.” The program’s goal: “sniff it all, know it all, collect it all, process it all & exploit it all” via XKEYSCORE (a Five Eyes shared database). Snowden confirmed it contained communications of “millions of New Zealanders”

July Bypassing normal requirements coordination. The document stated: “The implementation of Speargun is currently on hold pending clarification of the legislation.” Crucially, Key was informed that Speargun details were likely to become public because they could be in the trove of secrets taken by Edward Snowden

August 2013

Key publicly vowed to RESIGN if mass surveillance of New Zealanders was ever proven (The January election was just months away)

July 2013- A secret briefing from DPMC’s intelligence director told PM Key that Speargun was “on hold pending clarification of legislation,” & that Snowden might expose it. The required legislation- the GCSB Amendment Act 2013- passed on Aug 21 legalizing domestic spying for the first time. Key then halted Speargun funding on Sep 2, months after he had publicly claimed the program was dead in Mar 2013

2014- April A business case for the upgraded spyware system “Cortex” (Speargun’s replacement) was developed & approved

2014- Sep At Kim Dotcom’s “Moment of Truth” event, Snowden called PM Key a liar, stating Key’s denial of mass surveillance is “categorically false.” He claimed he personally accessed NZ’s coms via the XKEYSCORE system & asserted: “If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched”

The New Zealand corrupt Govt with “Palantir” Spying & the Connection To The Whistleblower Edward Snowden/ Part 2

Snowden & Glenn Greenwald then publicly released the documents proving the GCSB & NSA ran “Speargun” & the spying

Despite that bombshell, John Key’s National Party still won a crushing victory on Sep20 2014. His strategy: concede the existence of a test program, deny it ever collected Kiwis’ data, & attack Snowden as unreliable.

2015- March Re-elected Key formally retracted his resignation promise- with NO apology, NO inquiry, NO consequences for lying to the public, & illegally spying on citizens. The media moved on. The public largely forgot, but not all!!

2016- December Key retires on his own terms allegedly, quitting as PM, & citing family reasons

2017-Key was Knighted, becoming Sir John Key. He never faced a single charge or formal censure for lying & allowing the illegal spying of Kiwi citizens

2017- Nov The NZ Herald obtained internal GCSB documents proving:
■ Key personally approved “Speargun”
■ The program was delayed in March 2013 – not cancelled
■ Funding & spying continued until Sep 2013, months after Key claimed it was dead

Edward Snowden famously tweeted: “A Lie, a Cover‑Up, & a Stolen Election”

John Key was exposed as a liar, won re‑election anyway, never resigned, got knighted, & mass surveillance continued – proving that in politics, showing that a cover‑up often works.

The Irony: Speargun = Cortex= “Palantir”
After killing Speargun, Key announced a replacement program called “Cortex” - a supposedly “defensive” cyber tool designed to protect NZ from malware & cyber attacks
But here’s the kicker, “Cortex” was functionally identical to Speargun. Both programs involved:
■ Placing data filtering technology at the ISP level
■ Scanning mass internet traffic in real time
■ Operating under the same legal framework

The only real difference was the optics. Speargun was designed to sit on the undersea cable-the “highway” of NZ’s internet connection. Cortex was positioned as a narrower tool, protecting “those organisations that requested it”

As former National Party leader Simon Bridges later admitted, describing the difference: “Cortex is effectively up a few drives of businesses, their ISPs, looking at malware activity. What Speargun is, is actually on the highways, looking at traffic”

In other words: Speargun scanned everything at the border. Cortex scanned everything at the local ISP. Same mass data filtering, different point of insertion

Key’s own description of Speargun was that it was “all about protecting secrets, not getting secrets” a framing that applied just as easily to “Cortex” . Both programs required the same fundamental capability: intercepting & analyzing NZs’ internet traffic at massive scale, collecting & distribution of your personal data

The business case for Cortex was approved in April 2014-less than a year after Speargun’s funding was supposedly halted. The Irony? Speargun never died. It was rebranded, repackaged, & renamed “Cortex”-a distinction without a difference.

The only thing that changed was the fanciful story the public was told, to pull the wool over most people’s eyes
Since 2013 legalized domestic spying has been the norm.

April 2026-The government has confirmed that its “ongoing partnership with Palantir is led by the GCSB”. Not only are the past details partially hidden, but the GCSB also appears to be the lead agency for the current, still-opaque relationship. The fact that the data is fairly unavailable for GCSB & SIS remains a notable of they can spy on us but its difficult to see their nefarious activity.