[3] In 2013, Cummins undertook a two-year secondment from the New Zealand Defence Force to the Ministry of Justice and was the first appointment under a personnel sharing agreement between the agencies.
[5] Operation Burnham was a joint military operation undertaken by the New Zealand Special Air Service and elements of the Afghan Crisis Response Unit and International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan's Tirgiran Valley on 21–22 October 2010.
Operation Burnham became the subject of the investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson's book Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the meaning of honour, which alleged that New Zealand forces had committed war crimes against civilians in the Naik and Khak Khudday Dad villages.
[6][7] In late December 2018, the New Zealand Government confirmed that they would be holding an inquiry into Operation Burnham.
[8] While Cummins admitted to signing two minutes, which authorised the search and seizure operation two days after it took place, he was cleared, in an investigation headed by Brigadier Charlie Lott, of four counts of negligence and of making false documents.