Nicky Hager

Nicolas Alfred Hager (born 1958) is a New Zealand investigative journalist.

He stood as a Values Party candidate for Pahiatua in the 1978 general election.

After graduating from university, Hager worked at the ecology division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), and later worked with his brother-in-law building and renovating houses.

Hager is an investigative journalist who has written seven books.

, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), an international network that has 249 investigative reporters in over 90 countries, has Hager as one of only two New Zealand members.

Hager works on a number of projects at any given time, gathering information about them and looks for sources and mentors.

Some projects "come together" but others can continue for a number of years.

He has produced seven books since 1996, covering topics such as intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics.

He is one of two New Zealand members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Hager was born in Levin to a middle-class "socially aware" family.

His father was from Vienna, Austria, a clothing manufacturer who emigrated to New Zealand as a refugee from the Nazis.

His mother was born in Zanzibar (part of Tanzania), where her father studied tropical medicine, and later grew up in Kenya and Uganda.

His surname Hager is pronounced Har-gar, rhyming with lager.

Hager studied physics at Victoria University of Wellington, where he also did an honours degree in philosophy.

Secret Power: New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network, published in 1996, was Hager's first book.

The book investigates various spying techniques, including signals intelligence (Sigint), a form of electronic eavesdropping between countries.

The information was taken from interviews with staff in New Zealand's Sigint agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), who revealed the workings of the agency in minute detail: the intelligence targets, equipment, operating procedures, security systems and training, as well as the staff and layout of the intelligence agency's facilities.

The book makes special mention of GCSB's facilities at Waihopai and Tangimoana.

It revealed aspects of New Zealand's participation in the UKUSA Agreement facilitating intelligence gathering and sharing between the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Since the Edward Snowden revelations, this partnership has become more commonly known as the Five Eyes.

As a result, the insights into the inner workings of the GCSB provide information about the allied agencies as well.

In particular, Hager documented the US-coordinated ECHELON system, through which the five agencies intercept and process huge volumes of international e-mail, fax and telephone communications.

Hager was one of the earliest to write about the secretive ECHELON worldwide electronic spy network.

The material is based on a large amount of documentation leaked by a staff member from the local branch of Shandwick (now Weber Shandwick Worldwide), a global public relations company, which had been hired by Timberlands to run a secret campaign against environmental groups such as Native Forest Action between 1997 and 1999.

The book describes its tactics of surveillance of meetings, monitoring the press and responding to every letter to the editor, greenwashing, the use of strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPPs), cleaning anti-logging graffiti and blotting out campaign posters in public places, and managing to install its pro-logging educational materials into schools.

Secrets and Lies: The Anatomy of an Anti-Environmental PR Campaign was co-authored with Bob Burton and published in 1999.

It documents the public relations information put out by Timberlands West Coast Limited in order to win public support for logging of native forests on the West Coast of New Zealand.

The year after the book's publication, the new Labour government passed the Forests (West Coast Accord) Act 2000, which halted the logging of publicly owned native forests and provided a $120 million transition package for the West Coast economy.

Seeds of Distrust: The Story of a GE Cover-up was a study of government processes and decision-making under New Zealand's Labour-led government.

The book details an incident in November 2000, during the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification, when government officials were alerted to evidence of an accidental release of genetically modified corn plants, which was illegal under New Zealand law.

The book traces the stages of industry lobbying and government decision making leading up to a decision to regard the incident as insignificant and keep it secret from the public.

As a result of his book, in 2001 he testified before the European Parliament on his research into the network.

The book contained two forewords, one written by former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange and one by Jeffrey T. Richelson, a leading author on U.S. intelligence agencies and the author of the books America's Secret Eyes in the Sky and The Ties That Bind.

The book was released in July 2002, just as a snap election was called, and helped make genetically modified organisms a major election issue.

At a media conference of government officials convened immediately after the book's release, the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, Barry Carbon, conceded that the book was largely accurate but disputed the interpretation of the material.

The Christchurch newspaper The Press studied the official documents and concluded:

"So who's telling the truth, Hager or the Government? Officials at a special briefing for journalists last week memorably commented that they did not disagree with most of Hager's facts, just his conclusions. That is unsurprising, given that the conclusions that can be drawn are not palatable ones. The documents raise some serious questions about the level of open government New Zealand really has and the strength of our much-vaunted biosecurity regime."

In November 2006 Hager's book The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception was published.

The book details a wide range of National Party internal party documents including emails which were leaked by six National Party insiders.

The documents were written by the party leader Don Brash and a wide range of people associated with him.