Secret documents reveal a conflict between the various intelligence agencies — and that it will take an extra R152-million to bring the government’s secret service up to scratch. Chris Louw reports
SECRET cabinet documents obtained by the Mail & Guardian reveal that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has been hit by a huge exodus of more than a quarter of its agents.
Five hundred and forty-seven of the NIS’s 2 130 members have resigned recently enough for their posts still to be vacant.
In other areas, the situation is even worse. Of the 304 posts in the Bophuthatswana Internal Intelligence Service, a full 186 — more than 60 percent — are vacant.
Filling these posts and creating a new National Intelligence Agency (NIA) for the country, it is revealed in the documents, will need an additional R152-million for the current financial year on top of the the budget already allocated for the Secret Services Account.
The money will go into forging the country’s various intelligence agencies into a single force, which will eventually consist of 3 653 members. The ANC’s intelligence wing will be providing a surprisingly high number of these spies — over 900.
The documents in the WM&G’s possession are cabinet memoranda from the head of legal services, W Hanekom, “by order of Executive Deputy President FW de Klerk” to the various ministeries. They are dated July 25 and marked “secret”.
They also reveal serious conflict between the civilian agencies and the National Defence Force (NDF) about the role of military intelligence.
The NDF is unhappy with a clause in the Bill defining the National Intelligence Community which prohibits the NDF from gathering intelligence “of a non-military nature in a covert manner”. According to sources, the conflict was partly responsible for delaying the submission of the draft Bills to parliament. Efforts by De Klerk to hold on to his position as chairperson of the Cabinet Committee for Security and Intelligence Affairs also complicated the issue.
President Nelson Mandela told the senate on Wednesday that the Bills on intelligence matters were finally approved by cabinet this week for submission to parliament.
The Bills, said Mandela, reaffirmed that the president will take direct political charge of the country’s intelligence services, and ensure parliamentary oversight of these services. In dealing with relevant administrative functions, the president is being assisted by the minister of justice.
“Deputy President FW de Klerk will continue as chairperson of the Cabinet Committee for Security and Intelligence Affairs.”
Mandela’s announcements followed weeks of behind-the- scenes tussles and “blood-letting” between the various intelligence services, as well as between the ANC and the National Party. De Klerk, who has already been sidelined in all the security portfolios, was adamant not to let go of national intelligence.
The documents in the WM&G’s possession provide a glimpse of these squabbles.
Problems are also revealed about ascertaining the intelligence spending of the previous homelands.
Under the heading “Financial Implications”, it is stated that uncertainty exists regarding the budgets of the intelligence services of Transkei, Venda and Bophuthatswana. “The whole matter about ranks/post- structures and the question of parity have a bearing on the additional budget for the current financial year.”
One of the documents sets out to explain the background to the Intelligence Services Bill and the other to the National Strategic Intelligence Bill.
Provision is made in the National Strategic Intelligence Bill for the creation of a National Intelligence Co- ordinating Committee (NICOC) to oversee the work of the new Intelligence Agency.
The Bill deals with the “rationalising” of the existing civilian intelligence departments — including the Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS) of the ANC — into the new NIA.
The NIA will be devolved into two departments with foreign and domestic intelligence responsibilities respectively. In the Bill the functions and responsibilities of these new departments are demarcated, together with those of the members of the National Intelligence Community. All these agencies will be obliged to supply intelligence relating to national intelligence to the NICOC.
According to one of the secret memoranda, personnel for NICOC will be drawn from the National Intelligence Community.
A new position of secretary of State Intelligence — to head the NICOC — will be created as a “senior post in the civil service”. The secretary will head the NICOC and will liaise with the cabinet.
Although it is not said in the documents, the position is generally expected to go to ANC DIS chief Joe Nhlanhla.
Referring to the costs involved in establishing a single secret service, the document reads: “This additional budget (of R150-million) will be considered as part of the budget for the Secret Services Account (from where it will be allocated to the Security Services Special Account for use by the National Intelligence Service/National Intelligence Agency) that will be submitted to parliament for approval.”
The Department of State Expenditure, however, has indicated that although it accepts the “reality of the situation and will thus consider the additional budget”, indications are that only about R140-million would be available.
Bodies advised in the preparing of the legislation include the ANC’s DIS, the BIIS, the Transkei Intelligence Service (TIS), the Venda National Intelligence Service (VNIS), the Department of State Expenditure and the chief state law adviser.
The chief state law adviser warned that the Bill in its original form may prove to be problematic as difficulties may in practice be encountered in the daily administration of the agency and the service. The president was also not allowed any power of delegation. These problems seem to have been overcome.
In an interview earlier this week, De Klerk said solutions “for the technical problems have now been found, as well as a broad consensus between the parties in the government of national unity”.
He said part of the solution was “that the NP will be involved in a meaningful way in cabinet supervision over security issues”.
The new NIA, it is revealed, will consist of members of the existing four civilian intelligence services as well as the ANC’s DIS. The 3 653 members will be drawn from the NIS (2 130 members); the ANC’s DIS (910); Bophuthatswana (304); Transkei (233); and Venda (76).