There it an inherent contradiction in the operation of a secret service in a democratic society. That service must use subversive, illegal and devious strategies to operate against people defined as 'subversives'. But at the same time the service must subscribe to democratic ideology and abhor the tactics as well as the designs of its enemies. The practice and the ideology contradict each other with the usual result that the ideology is twisted and bent to justify the practice.

A curious example of this process of twist and bend is to be found in the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service Amendment Bill. Because Sir Guy Powles found that the SIS habitually tap phones and open mail, the Government, on his recommendation, have decided to make this habitual practice legal. The reasoning is that, since it happens anyway, if we make it legal we can at the same time make it more visible and thus regulate it.