Request official information

Contact us by email or post to ask for information you think we might hold.

Email: information@gcsb.govt.nz

Post: GCSB, PO Box 12209, Wellington 6144

We need some information to respond to your request

When you contact us, include the following information:

• your name
• contact address (email or postal)
• details of the information you are seeking.

We may ask for more information to help respond to your request.

Make your request as clear as possible

To help us respond as quickly as possible, make your request as clear and specific as you can. 

The Public Service Commission website has tips for requesting information.

Read the Public Service Commission’s tips for requesting information(external link) on the Public Service Commission website

Before you ask for information, check if we’ve already made it available somewhere else.

• Visit our Official Information Act Responses page
• Visit our Proactive Information Releases page
• Visit our About us section for annual reports and background information about the GCSB
• Visit the Our work section for more information about what we do
• Read an overview of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, the legislation that sets out our functions, powers and duties and provides a legislative framework that allows us to conduct activities necessary to protect New Zealand and New Zealand interests.
  

Visit the website of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS)(external link) for its media releases and reports

We’ll acknowledge your request and aim to reply within 20 working days.

We may need more time to respond. If this happens, we’ll tell you how much longer it will take.

If you ask for information held by another government agency we will transfer it and let you know we have done this.

The Public Service Commission website has more information about what to expect when an agency responds to your Official Information Act request.

Read guidance on how organisations will respond to OIA requests(external link) on the Public Service Commission website.

You can see how many requests we get each year and how promptly we respond on the Public Service Commission’s website, or in our Annual Reports.

Read our annual reports.

See the Official Information Act statistics(external link) on the Public Service Commission’s website.

We try to be as open as possible about what we do. But because some aspects of our work would stop being effective if made public, we may need to respond to your request for information with “We can neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of information”.

Why we sometimes neither confirm nor deny

Revealing details about what we do or do not know, or capabilities and methods we do and do not use, can hurt New Zealand’s interests. Over time, we would reveal too much information about what we are or are not interested in.

If you receive a “neither confirm nor deny” response, you should not assume this means we are withholding information from you or have any interest in your activities.

You can ask for information about other people, such as deceased relatives, under the Official Information Act. Please be aware though, that we need to make sure we don’t breach anyone’s privacy or release personal information to someone who isn’t entitled to it.

What you need to do:

• If the person is living, they will need to give their signed written permission (please include it with your request);
• If you are asking about a deceased family member, you will need to include evidence of your relationship, such as your birth certificate or a death notice listing family members;
• In all cases, provide as much background information as you can. Include the person’s date and place of birth; date of death; and the reason why you think the GCSB may have been interested in them, such as activities or organisations that you think were of security interest, and the dates and locations.

Requests for information about other people are considered on a case-by-case basis. Each request involves a unique set of security and privacy issues that we must work through.

Sometimes a lot of information can be released; other times we can provide very little. Occasionally we will "neither confirm nor deny" if information is held, or not held about the person.

Getting a "neither confirm nor deny" response does not mean that we investigated the person you are asking about, that they posed a security risk, or that we hold information about them.

We can generally respond to straightforward requests within 20 working days. But for more complex requests involving a lot of information, it can take many months.

Declassification is a resource-intensive and time-consuming process. We have to balance national security and privacy interests, and sometimes we will need to consult other agencies.  

Depending on the specific circumstances of your request and the volume of requests ahead of you, declassification and release of information can take some time.

If you’re unhappy with the response to your request, contact us first to see if we can resolve the issue.

If we can’t resolve the issue, you can complain to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Complain to the Office of the Ombudsman(external link)