Guyon Espiner

I picked through it one day.

There's several hundred pages, but they are allowed to lie.

That's right.

It looks like they turned our main source and then ran him back at us.

So when you say that you have a dim recollection that there was an operation involving the Czechoslovakian embassy, do you recall it being a successful operation?

And just a reminder, the aim of the raid was for a small team of SIS and MI6 operators to get these code books used by the Warsaw Pact countries, copy them and return them undetected to the safe of the Czech embassy in Wadestown.

And did they get the books?

No recollection of at all?

Which is ironic, right, because we hear a lot from the intelligence agencies about the dangers of misinformation and disinformation.

But if you're right about this, they do it when it suits them.

And in the end, I suppose you could ask, isn't that just the way it has to be?

Certainly Andrew Little thinks so, and he's the one who's sat in that hot seat.

We can accept that there's always going to be tension around what the intelligence services can and can't tell us, but it is frustrating.

We do know that those ties between SIS and CIA remain tight.

We're talking here with Susan Miller, the former high-ranking CIA officer.

Now, you have to say, it's quite interesting that Susan Miller, the person who heads up that new CIA mission centre targeting our largest trading partner, gets FaceTime with the New Zealand Prime Minister.

And of course, that connection is one that comes through our intelligence alliance, where New Zealand does seem to be adding value.

You're not bitter about that, are you, John?

And New Zealand has something to offer.

That doesn't mean the road ahead will be straightforward.