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system was effectively automated.

Dotcom, though, had another theory. When the four found themselves clustered together in prison, they initially thought there had been a blunder.

“You are in a conspiracy case and they put the conspirators together?” asked Dotcom. It didn't make sense. He believed the spying continued into Mt Eden prison. “This is where we get the extra 10 days of surveillance. We never understood why they put us all together (in prison).”

He says there was little logic to allowing the group to spend their days together while awaiting bail hearings. There was, he says, a desire to turn one of the defendants to comply with the FBI construction of events and testify against the others. It makes little sense to allow the group to spend time together, reinforcing their recollection of events and reliance on each other.

“They have listened to us. There were intercoms in the cells and I think . . . they probably have surveillance capacity in those cells. They wanted us to be in a cell together during opening time, they wanted us to talk about the case. They would have had open mikes (microphones in the cell) — that is the extra 10 days of surveillance. They would have had a contingency plan after we got arrested. It would have involved further surveillance because the FBI already knew their case was shit. They were actually hoping when they come in here they would hit the mother lode and they would find the evidence to support the case.”

The date the surveillance actually ended — 30 January — saw the GCSB write to Ofcanz praising the agency for “a successful operation”. It is odd the email didn't come until 10 days after the GCSB had always claimed the operation had finished, although it would be April 2013 before this was admitted.

In the email, like good guests thanking their hosts, the spies told Ofcanz: “We all thoroughly enjoyed being involved in this case and were happy to provide what assistance we could.” The agency and the bureau discussed a debrief, with an Ofcanz analyst telling the spies: “I see this as a chance to highlight the success of this op in terms of us seeking your assistance in a fairly unique case and you guys going the extra mile to assist.” The spies agreed, particularly as it would provide a chance to showcase their skills and technical abilities for incoming director Ian Fletcher. The Ofcanz analyst sketched out some ideas for the briefing, to be held mid-February, adding: “I think Debut is a joint model that could be replicated (and built upon) to great effect in future operations with a regional and or wider transnational component.”

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