Deltanine

The tension between the USA and New Zealand has been revealed in inadvertantly released top secret documents. Among them is a letter from former minister David Caygill, written on March 21, 1986, in which he describes a lunch with United States ambassador Paul Cleveland.

"The ambassador asked me if I realised what was at stake in the dispute between the two countries," Caygill writes.

"I asked him what he meant. He replied trust. I asked him what he meant by that and he said that until now the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand had had a unique relationship. 'We have not spied on each other. If you go ahead with your policies we will not be able to trust you'.

"I took the clear implication from his remarks that if our relationship with the US deteriorated further, then the US would no longer feel any inhibition in conducting intelligence gathering operations against us."

Caygill writes that the ambassador said the head of the CIA was also concerned. He had considered what action should be taken, and had asked whether he should get tough with New Zealand.

The ambassador also told Caygill Lange had upset the US further when, in response to threats that the flow of intelligence from the US would be cut off, he replied "that would give more time to do the crossword".

Also contained in Lange's papers is the 1985-86 annual report of the Government Communications Security Bureau, the government's electronic spying agency, which is marked "top secret" and "umbra" - the highest security classification given to intelligence documents.

The report lists the countries and agencies on which New Zealand was spying. They include targets that have never been officially acknowledged, including UN diplomatic communications, Argentine naval intelligence, Egypt, Japan, the Philippines, Pacific Island nations, France, Vietnam, the Soviets, North Korea, East Germany, Laotia and South Africa.