Security Intelligence specialist joins centre

Police Intelligence Manager Janine Foster has joined Massey University’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies to develop and teach on a new Masters Degree being offered.

The Masters Degree in International Security - being offered at the start of Semester II from later this month - is the first in Australasia with endorsements specialising in Security Intelligence. Papers are available on Security and Crime, Intelligence Operations and Intelligence in the Contemporary Security Environment. 

The centre's Acting Director, Nick Nelson, says the intelligence papers were an important part of understanding the contemporary security environment, and added considerable value to the new Masters programme.

The centre has been working closely with New Zealand Police in recent months developing a relationship since a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in December 2011. 

The growing relationship with the NZ Police was valuable for both organisations and having experts like Mrs Foster on staff enhanced the programme substantially, Mr Nelson says.

Mrs Foster started her career in Customs but moved to New Zealand Police in 2002 when the police recruited additional staff in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. She is currently on secondment with Massey, but continues part time at the New Zealand Police’s National Intelligence Centre as Manager, Knowledge and Capability.

With a strong background in ongoing learning, Mrs Foster developed the National Diploma in Intelligence Analysis while at NZ Customs, now the industry standard at NZQA level.

She will teach the Security and Crime component at Massey which covers organised and cross-border crime, including areas like national security, cyber crime and the use of social media in crime. 

“These Masters’ papers fulfil a need for intelligence staff in New Zealand to study at a higher level within a University environment but in ways that are applicable to the work being done by senior analysts and intelligence officers,” Mrs Foster said. A number of Police staff will be among the first to study for the new qualification.