[4] The Bainimarama government announced that the FIS was being reestablished so as to "ensure a safe and secured Fiji from increasing terrorism threats", citing "the events of 9/11 in 2001 in the United States and recently in Bali", and more generally "rising terrorism worldwide".
[5] Rabuka criticised the revival of the FIS in 2008, describing it as unnecessary, and hypothesised that its intended purpose was "perhaps keeping an eye out on what Australia and New Zealand are doing".
He expressed the view that it would "invade people's privacy and intrude on innocent people in the name of intelligence gathering", and that the funds put into a "spy network" would best be used on "heath, housing, water supply and road maintenance".
[7] By early 2010, the FIS had not yet been revived, and the Bainimarama government announced it would create a National Intelligence Agency to replace it.
[9] The Minister of Defence, Ratu Epeli Ganilau, however, added in May 2010 that the NIA would not be a "spy organisation", and that it would be "totally different" from the FIS: It would merely "strengthen the assessment and national security capability and co-ordination of the Ministry of Defence as the ministry responsible to (sic) the national security".