Organisation

The GCSB is a Public Service Department with its Head Office in Wellington. The Director of the GCSB reports directly to the Minister responsible for the GCSB, traditionally the Prime Minister. The current Director is Bruce Ferguson who was appointed in November 2006.

The GCSB is part of New Zealand's Intelligence and Security community. The structure of this community is further described in the paper Securing Our Nation's Safety on the website of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The GCSB Head Office is in the Freyberg Building in Aitken Street, Wellington. The Bureau is divided into four functional areas:

• Signals Intelligence (SIGINT);
• Information Assurance (IA);
• Information Communication Technology Services (ICT); and
• Corporate Services.

The Bureau has two communications collection or interception stations: the HF radio interception and direction-finding station at Tangimoana, and the satellite communications interception station at Waihopai, near Blenheim.

The Bureau has approximately 340 staff in a wide range of disciplines including foreign-language experts, communications and cryptography specialists through to engineers, technicians and support staff. Approximately 30 per cent of the workforce are women.

The Bureau's budget is set at just under $40 million.