Heather Roy's Diary

Keeping Future Kiwis Safe - Part One: Cyberspace
In the year 2035, most readers will be well beyond 'taking to the hills with a .22 rifle' to defend New Zealand against invaders.  Our children and grandchildren, however, will not.

What will warfare look like then?  Is it believable that the keyboard will replace the AK47 as the most prolific weapon in the world?  Will asymmetric warfare - involving proxies, non-state actors and new technologies - become the new norm, as the world's major research institutes predict?

This series of Heather Roy' Diary, titled 'Keeping Future Kiwis Safe', is not intended to pre-suppose anything that may be in the Government's Defence White Paper.  It is my update, based on world trends, of how ACT's policy sits against the facts as they stand.

Some of you will have read ACT's 2008 election manifesto on international relations and national security (http://roy.org.nz/Files/ACT_IRNS.pdf).  Rather than turn this Diary into a tome, I'm going to keep it brief here but, if you're stimulated or baffled by the context of anything written here, I commend you to read our policy document.  You'll see that it's all consistent.

Ungoverned spaces are a major issue for security planners around the world.  These include a lack of effective Government.  Examples of this include Somali piracy; pressure on existing treaties and agreements - such as water rights sharing and non-exploitation of mineral resources in Antarctica - and the absence of any generally agreed historical governance such as space and cyberspace.

Cyberspace refers to the entire electro-magnetic spectrum.  Cyber-battle and cyber-warfare are subset terms that deal with the security aspects of this space.  It is one of several physical and transient 'ungoverned spaces' where there is no discernable or effective governance.  These are 'spaces' where terrorists, criminals and the disaffected gather and can operate with impunity.  In cyber-war targets can range from internet, phone and media to power grids and more.  It is an area where we are vulnerable.  It is also an area where New Zealand can be a world leader.

Current approaches to international security can be likened to a 'broken windows' policy.  This works fine for policing but, when someone takes down our national power grid or stock exchange from a cyber cafe overseas, who 'kicks in the door' and who arrests them - even if you know who 'them' is?
 
In tactical terms, cyberspace is a manoeuvre corridor.  Strategically, for a nation with such dated infrastructure as ours, it represents an 'Achilles Heel' that could set back our recovery from the global economic recession for a very long time.

I am not suggesting that, in the next 25 years, we will see conventional defence forces replaced by battalions of 'cyber-geeks' - or that New Zealand can cease to wrestle with the challenge of modernising our conventional military hardware, systems and people.  It is not a case of 'either/or' but of 'both/and'.  I do, however, think that this - and other trends emerging on the world stage - now clearly indicates the need for a comprehensive, whole-of-Government national security policy.

In national security terms, keeping Kiwis safe now and in the future will be characterised, in my opinion, by a transition era; one where we will move toward an enhanced mix of old and new capabilities in order to be able to simultaneously meet the mix of old, new and emerging threats.

Lest We Forget - Private Leonard Manning
During my visit to NZDF troops on deployment in Timor-Leste I attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial to Private William Leonard Manning, killed in action almost 10 years ago to the day.

A dedicated and skilled infantryman deployed as part of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) peacekeeping force, Leonard Manning had a reputation for his interest in - and concern for - the Timorese people.  He was known for sitting and talking to local people, and for working to ensure they remained confident in the security and support that the New Zealand peacekeeper provided.

On July 24 2000, Private Manning was on patrol with his unit on the steep and inaccessible hill Fono Debululik.  Trailing a group of suspected militia, the unit came under fire and Leonard Manning was shot and killed.  The militia were later captured and one sentenced to six years in jail.

At just 24 years old, Private Manning became the first combat fatality New Zealand had suffered since the Viet Nam War.  His death was a tragedy for the Manning family, the NZDF and all of New Zealand.

The ceremony I attended yesterday was an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice made by Leonard Manning in service to his country and to the people of Timor-Leste.  And also to remember those other soldiers who died in Timor-Leste - Staff Sergeant Billy White, Warrant Officer Tony Walser, Private Boyd Atkins and Private Dean Johnston.

They made the ultimate sacrifice for country and freedom and this will never be forgotten.  These men are now are part of our military history and also of Timor-Leste's national story.

My speech to the Wreath-Laying ceremony at the Manning Memorial in Tilomar can be read at: www.roy.org.nz/speechs/wreath-laying-tilomar-timor-leste

ENDS