16 Mar 2011

Key meets high-ranking US intelligence chief

8:02 pm on 16 March 2011

Prime Minister John Key has had a meeting with a man he describes as the most senior American intelligence official to visit New Zealand.

Mr Key met the United States Director of National Intelligence, Jim Clapper, at Parliament on Wednesday.

Mr Clapper - appointed to his current job by President Barack Obama last year - oversees 16 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA.

Mr Key describes the meeting as a relationship-building exercise that shows the strength of the relationship between the US and New Zealand.