22 Facts About Nicky Hager

Nicolas Alfred Hager was born on 1958 and is a New Zealand investigative journalist.

Nicky Hager has produced seven books since 1996, covering topics such as intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics.

Nicky Hager is one of two New Zealand members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Nicky Hager was born in Levin to a middle-class "socially aware" family.

Nicky Hager's father was from Vienna, Austria, a clothing manufacturer who emigrated to New Zealand as a refugee from the Nazis.

Nicky Hager's mother was born in Zanzibar, where her father studied tropical medicine, and later grew up in Kenya and Uganda.

Nicky Hager studied physics at Victoria University of Wellington, where he did an honours degree in philosophy.

Nicky Hager stood as a Values Party candidate for Pahiatua in the 1978 general election.

Nicky Hager is an investigative journalist who has written seven books.

In particular, Nicky Hager documented the US-coordinated ECHELON system, through which the five agencies intercept and process huge volumes of international e-mail, fax and telephone communications.

Nicky Hager was one of the earliest to write about the secretive ECHELON worldwide electronic spy network.

At the time Brash was unaware that Nicky Hager had completed and was about to launch his book.

Nicky Hager assisted with the feature-length documentary of the book, made by Alister Barry, that was released in July 2008.

Nicky Hager concludes that New Zealand needs greater accountability and neutrality in its armed forces.

In late November 2022, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service apologised to Nicky Hager and paid NZ$66,400 in compensation and legal fees after it illegally accessed his phone records in 2012.

In mid-June 2018, Nicky Hager accepted an apology and compensation for "substantial damages" from the New Zealand Police for raiding his home in 2014 as part of their investigation into the hacking that led to the Dirty Politics book.

On 21 September 2016, Nicky Hager was subpoenaed by Colin Craig's lawyers to testify as part of the latter's defence in a defamation suit filed by Jordan Williams, the co-founder of the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union.

Nicky Hager initially volunteered to give evidence, however decided he did not want to after Mr Williams gave evidence in relation to Craig's treatment of his former press secretary, Rachel MacGregor.

Nicky Hager took the stand as an expert witness and alleged that publications linked to Jordan Williams on Cameron Slater's blog attacked Craig and followed a similar pattern that had been documented in his book.

Nicky Hager asserted that the raid had taken place at the nearby "Tirgiran Valley village" and that the raid was carried out to protect New Zealand's Provincial Reconstruction Team in neighbouring Bamiyan Province.

On 16 April 2018, Nicky Hager was appointed as a member of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security's Reference Group, an advisory group of journalists, lawyers, academics, and advocates that would scrutinise the legality of the actions of New Zealand's intelligence agencies, the NZSIS and GCSB.

Nicky Hager's appointment was criticised by the National Party's GCSB and NZSIS spokesperson Gerry Brownlee, who pointed to his previous criticism of the NZSIS.