Biography (short version here)
Nicky Hager is an author and investigative journalist based in Wellington, New Zealand. He was born and grew up in the small town of Levin, where his East African-born mother Barbara was a counsellor and district councillor, and his Austrian-refugee father Kurt ran a clothing factory. He spent five years at Victoria University in Wellington, gaining a BSc in physics and a BA Hons in philosophy. During university, and for some years after, he was well known in New Zealand for his role in political causes.
On leaving university he worked for the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research analysing and writing about indigenous forest management plans. Later in the 1980s he worked as a commercial builder and part-time physics teacher. In this period he built himself a house overlooking Wellington Harbour.
In the 1990s he spent several years researching his first book, Secret Power . It is an in-depth exposé of New Zealand and international intelligence systems, particularly the US Echelon system that targets international phone calls and e-mail. This was the first book on US and allied mass surveillance systems, which would later be revealed in dramatic detail by Edward Snowden. Publicity about this book earned him the description of being the New Zealander who “received the most overseas coverage in 1998″.
A US intelligence specialist. Jeffrey Richelson, described this book as “a masterpiece of investigative reporting” — an idea that set Nicky Hager on his years of investigative journalism since. The book was based on interviews with intelligence officers and fieldwork in several countries. it created international news and led to a year-long investigation into Echelon by the European Parliament.
Secret Power was followed by six more influential books and a string of ground-breaking articles.
His 1999 book, Secrets and Lies, the anatomy of an anti-environmental PR campaign, co-authored by Australian journalist Bob Burton, was based on internal PR papers and documented the unscrupulous techniques used by PR companies to manufacture political support for their clients and to undermine their clients’ opponents.
His 2002 book Seeds of Distrust, based on public service and company documents, was a case study of industry lobbying of a Labour Government during an era of controversy over genetic engineering.
In 2006 he published The Hollow Men, a study in the politics of deception, a detailed expose of three years of politics within the New Zealand National Party. This book, which prompted the resignation of the party leader on the day it was released, has since been adapted into a successful stage play and feature-length documentary film.
In 2011 he published a detailed history of New Zealand involvement in the Afghanistan war, based on the largest ever leak of military and intelligence documents in New Zealand. The book, called Other People’s Wars, describes the nature of modern warfare in a way rarely ever seen. The book led on to a 2017 book called Hit & Run about a botched special forces raid mentioned in Other People’s Wars, after new sources came forward. It concerned civilian casualties and mistreatment of prisoners, and led to two major government inquiries.
The 2014 book Dirty Politics, a sequel to the Hollow Men, uncovered a group of underhand and deceptive political bloggers who dominated New Zealand politics for several years: launching smears, sex scandals and disinformation campaigns. The book revealed their close collaboration with a dirty tricks coordinator in the office of the prime minister, John Key. The bloggers and their tactics were discredited. The book had a major and lasting impact on New Zealand politics.
Nicky presents a wide range of lectures (often on journalism techniques), conference papers and other public speaking. He has travelled widely, including to speak at conferences and universities in Australia, Fiji, Japan, Thailand, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Britain and the United States.
Outside work he enjoys music (including helping to organise a large choir), building, tramping in the mountains and, particularly, being father to his daughter Julia. He has three sisters: Debbie Hager, who lectures in public health; Mandy Hager, who is a fiction writer; and Belinda Hager who is a jeweller and teacher.
Nicky Hager can be contacted by email to nhager@actrix.co.nz