A secretive meeting taking place in Queenstown this weekend is understood to be a gathering of the Five Eyes.

The intelligence alliance is made up of New Zealand, Australia, the US, the UK and Canada.

Defence and Security expert, Rhys Ball from Massey University, told Nadine Higgins it's New Zealand's turn to host the meeting this year.

He said there will be a myriad of things to talk about including counter-proliferation and the state of North Korea.

"Things like counter espionage and the influence of Russia," he said.

Ball said other items on the agenda could include counter-terrorism, the impact of whistle blowers and internal threats.

"So the likes of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and WikiLeaks is something that these agencies will be sort of thinking about and talking about."

He said protection of tradecraft or spying methods, sources and assets is very important.

LISTEN ABOVE AS RHYS BALL SPEAKS WITH NADINE HIGGINS