A government request for university staff to watch out for spies and terrorists has riled New Zealand's Tertiary Education Union. But while vice-chancellors say the request was routine, the union revealed last week that the Security Intelligence Service had written to vice-chancellors and distributed copies of an SIS pamphlet.

The pamphlet 'A guide to Weapons of Mass Destruction: Your role in preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction', provides guidance on spotting people who might be trying to steal intellectual property for foreign governments or gain information related to weapons of mass destruction.

The letter from Director of Security Warren Tucker referred to a meeting with the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee on 9 October to "share some NZSIS security concerns with direct relevance to academic institutions, in particular foreign state acquisition of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) technology and industrial espionage against New Zealand's science and technology by foreign states".

"We encourage you to raise awareness of the risks of WMD proliferation and illicit science and technology acquisition amongst your staff, and we provide the enclosed pamphlets to assist with this," Tucker wrote. The pamphlet included SIS contact numbers and emails for advice or reporting of suspicious activities.

TEU president Tom Ryan said he was concerned the request could create a culture of suspicion. Ryan said there was no need for academics to report concerns directly to the SIS as universities already had processes for such action. In fact, reporting directly to the SIS was dangerous if suspicions about a person prompted an over-reaction and were then proved wrong. "The potential for stuff up is huge."

But Vice-Chancellors Committee Executive Director Penny Fenwick said the SIS meeting with the committee was not due to any heightened risk. New Zealand's eight universities were large institutions with some 20,000 staff and 180,000 students. As such they were a significant force in New Zealand society and operated in an international environment.

"It is therefore a matter of routine that the Director of Security meets with the universities' representative body from time to time," Fenwick said.

The SIS pamphlet said suspicious attempts to gain knowledge or expertise applicable to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) might include inquiries about enrolling students for, or seeking employment on, WMD-relevant research projects, requests to attend conferences and seminars on sensitive topics, requests relating to matters on which scientists would not normally seek advice or information "and for which unconvincing reasons or evasive explanations are given".

New Zealand academics are not alone in being asked by a security service to watch out for spies and terrorists. Two years ago, the American FBI said US universities should consider the possibility of foreign spies posing as international students or visitors and terrorists studying advanced technologies and scientific breakthroughs on campus, as well as violent extremists and computer hackers.

The National Security Higher Education Advisory Board, launched in 2005, consists of 20 university presidents around the country who work with the FBI on matters of campus security and counter-terrorism to identify threats to students and staff.

But the board was also asked to guard against campus spies who might be out to steal not-yet-secret secrets. The presidents were advised to think like 'Cold War-riors' and be mindful of professors and students who might not be on campus for purposes of learning but instead for spying, stealing research and recruiting people who were sympathetic to an anti-US cause.

Then FBI Director Robert Mueller, speaking at Penn State University, said universities had to guard against spies who were out to acquire bits and pieces of technology and research. Mueller said he was worried that "pre-classified and pre-patented" technologies could fall into the wrong hands.

In 2006, The Guardian newspaper reported that academics at British universities would be asked to intensify spying on "Asian-looking" and Muslim students whom they suspected of supporting "terrorism" and involvement in "extremism".

The paper said UK universities had been used to spy on Muslims, especially since 9/11. An 18-page document from the Education Department distributed to universities claimed Muslim students from "segregated" backgrounds were more likely to support extremist ideas and demanded that universities report suspicious students to local police forces because the government believed campuses had become "fertile recruiting grounds" for extremists.

john.gerritsen@uw-news.com

* John Gerritsen is editor of New Zealand Education Review.

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