During the Cold War, the New Zealand secret intelligence service carried out various operations on behalf of the "Five Eyes" (Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom).

Thus, at the end of the 1980s, the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) in Wellington reportedly broke into the Indian and Iranian embassies, where inter alia they installed listening devices ("Operation Horoscope"), photographed code books and stole communications.

The Prime Minister (Labor) at the time of these events, Sir Geoffrey Palmer (1989-90) (photo), assured that he had not been informed. On the other hand, former Prime Minister (also Labor) Helen Clark (1999-2008) deplored the conduct of her country.