It has slightly over 400 employees[12] with a range of disciplines including foreign language experts, communications and cryptography specialists, engineers, technicians and support staff.

[14] Former Green MP Keith Locke says that despite the attention the GCSB received as a result of its illegal surveillance of Kim Dotcom, there has been little public discussion about its value.

The report listed a number of countries as targets of GCSB efforts, including Japan, the Philippines, Argentina, France, Vietnam, and many small Pacific island states.

They plan to do this through the set up of eight priority objectives, including recruiting and retaining the best employees, replacing high grade infrastructure and continuing to modernise the GCSB's access and tradecraft.

[31] Fletcher is a former diplomat who was interviewed by the appointment panel after an earlier short-list of four candidates had been rejected by the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the State Services Commissioner.

[40][41] In March 2013, The New Zealand Herald reported that Wolfensohn "no longer works for the GCSB intelligence agency as it braces for fresh exposure of its failings".

[42] As a result of the Dotcom saga, a review of the bureau's compliance with legislation and its internal systems and processes was conducted by Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Kitteridge.

It found "the GCSB structure was overly complex and top heavy, while staff who performed poorly were tolerated, rather than dismissed or disciplined, so they would not pose a security risk upon leaving the bureau.

On 27 July, opponents of the GCSB Amendment Bill staged nationwide protests in eleven major towns and cities, and thousands attended.

In response, Prime Minister Key acknowledged that the protests were part of a "healthy democracy" with people being "allowed" to make their voices heard for the moment.

[51][52] On 14 August 2013, the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key addressed what he identified as "misinformation" surrounding the GCSB Amendment Bill, claiming that the actions of the Government Communications Security Bureau were analogous to Norton AntiVirus.

[55] In August 2014, New Zealand Green Party co-leader Russel Norman stated that an interception point was being established on the Southern Cross Cable.

[56] Norman's claims followed the revelation that an engineer from the NSA had visited New Zealand earlier in the year to discuss how to intercept traffic on the Southern Cross cable.

The Snowden documents show that information collected by the GCSB is sent to the American National Security Agency to plug holes in the global intelligence network.

According to leaked documents supplied by Snowden, the GCSB collected a wide trove of electronic information including emails, mobile and fixed line phone calls, and social media messages from various South Pacific countries.

In addition, Snowden alleged that a GCSB officer had also worked with the Australian Signals Directorate to spy on the Indonesian cellphone company Telkomsel.

"[60] The Green Party also laid a complaint with the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, alleging that the GCSB had broken the law by spying on New Zealanders who were holidaying in the South Pacific.

In response, Brian Fergurson, a former director of the GCSB, acknowledged that the spy agency did collect emails and other electronic communications but that it did not use material about New Zealanders captured inadvertently.

[62] On 11 March 2015, Edward Snowden disclosed that the Government Communications Security Bureau was also using the Waihopai Station to intercept transmissions from several Pacific Rim and Asian countries including Vietnam, China, India, Pakistan, and several unspecified South American nations.

[63] In response to Snowden's disclosures, Una Jagose, the Acting-Director of the GCSB issued a statement that the spy agency was collecting less information than it was seven years ago during a session of the New Zealand Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee.

[68] On 16 March 2015, Snowden released more documents which revealed that the GCSB had a secret listening post, codenamed "Caprica", at the New Zealand High Commission in the Solomon Islands capital of Honiara.

[20] On 22 March 2015, The Intercept released a new document which showed that the GCSB had monitored the email and internet communications of several foreign diplomats vying for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

[69] In response to these disclosures, Sergio Danese, the Secretary-General of the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations summoned the New Zealand Ambassador Caroline Bilkey to explain the actions of her government.

[70] On 26 March 2015, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gywn announced that she would lead an inquiry into the allegations that the GCSB had spied on New Zealanders working in the Pacific.

[74] Other leaked documents also indicated that the GCSB codenamed their Auckland tapping operation "Frostbite" while their American counterparts called it "Basilhayden", after a Kentucky bourbon that was once regarded as the fictional spy James Bond's favourite alcoholic beverage.

In response, a Chinese Embassy spokesman told the New Zealand Herald that China was concerned about the report and attached great importance to the cybersecurity issue.

[80] In December 2020, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mosque shootings criticised the GCSB and other security services and intelligence agencies for focusing on Islamic extremism at the expense of other threats including White supremacy.

"[85] On 20 July 2021, the Minister in charge of GCSB Andrew Little confirmed that the spy agency had established links between Chinese state-sponsored actors known as "Advanced Persistent Threat 40" (APT40) and malicious cyber activity in New Zealand.

[90][91] On 27 March 2023, Director-General Andrew Hampton confirmed during a meeting of Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee that the GCSB in cooperation with other agencies had foiled three potential terror attacks.

Ian Fletcher (who had been appointed for five years) unexpectedly announced his resignation for family reasons in January 2015, with an acting director to take over at the end of the month.