Although there had never been an official announcement that Guyana had established a national intelligence agency, one has been in operation for over a decade and had several heads appointed over its course under both the PPP/C and APNU+AFC administrations, President Irfaan Ali yesterday said.
“The agency was created years ago. I came as the President and met NISA [National Intelligence and Security Agency]. The National Intelligence Agency was there before my presidency. This National Intelligence and Security Agency has been operating for a number of years; over a decade,” Ali yesterday said in response to questions from the Stabroek News and on the sidelines of the handing over the report of the Commission of Inquiry into the 2020 Elections report.
The President said that both governments were aware of the agency’s existence and had appointed heads for it.
“When I became President, the head of the agency then was…Bruce Lovell (Brigadier retired). Into my presidency, Bruce Lovell resigned as head of the agency. It was then that (Colonel) Omar (Khan) was appointed head of the agency,” Ali stressed.
And when told that there has never been a public announcement of the agency’s creation and operations, Ali would only say, “This agency existed. Full stop!”
In 2010 and under the PPP/C, it was reported that plans were in the making to create a Central Intelligence Unit and that it would have been housed in a building in the Castellani House compound.
A building was constructed and in 2012 then Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee had said that a board had been established to oversee the functioning of a Central Intelligence Unit.
Then Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, had informed that the unit had no head. He went on to say that the information that is collected by the unit is shared with the police.
During interviews on the subject, the opposition had expressed concerns about the CIU and the footage that was reportedly being captured by cameras set up throughout the city that it had access to.
Former President, David Granger, who at the time was Opposition Leader, had said that his party was unaware of the staffing of the facility and one would hope they could read and interpret what was being recorded. Other issues such as how quickly the information was being transmitted and the use of the footage were also of concern to him.
AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, had said too that he had received no information from government about the cameras. He said that he suspected that the reason why the information had not been forthcoming was because certain government officials had been engaged in offensive behaviour and he added that he personally knew of three such cases.
In July of 2013, APNU called for the Unit, which had over the course of that year remained shrouded in secrecy, to be governed by a legislative framework and not by political bosses.
Former Commissioner of Police and APNU+AFC Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, had in the same year said that there was need for legislation, regarding the agency as there was no form of accountability. According to Felix, a body such as the CIU should be legislated and should not be left to individuals who are members of the ruling political party to determine what it should do, how it should be staffed, managed and to provide the kind of service it ought to be providing.
Ramjattan had said, that like the general public at the time, his party was also in the dark about the agency as there was no public information on its employees or its terms of reference. He had signalled his intention to take the issue to the National Assembly in an effort to get answers. However, this was not done
Both Felix and Ramjattan had said that government ought to have given the National Assembly an update on the matter. They said that in light of their growing concerns, the issue would be raised at a later stage as the parliament was at the moment trying to address the no-confidence motion brought against Rohee.
Sources close to the operations then, have told the Stabroek News that the CIU was started in 2010 and that Lieutenant Colonel Omar Khan has been its first Head.
There were also two others for the time Khan had been away and up to 2015 when APNU+AFC got into office.
‘Accumulating information’
Former President Donald Ramotar yesterday told Stabroek News that the unit was in existence under him and had been headed by Khan. He said that its main responsibility was national security. “The CIU was created to deal with national security issues. Whenever the state seemed to be in danger either externally or internally, such as the crime wave of 2004, such an agency as this would be important in accumulating information to avert the dangers to the state,” the former President said.
He noted that because it was a state agency there was a necessary sharing with other agencies and bodies in the fight against drug trafficking and crime. For example if they picked up intelligence on drug trafficking, for example, it would be passed to CANU.
And when Ramotar lost the elections in 2015, the APNU+AFC did not immediately appoint a head.
For two years the Unit had no head but was still in operation and there was an Intelligence Committee which met weekly to discuss “security issues” and a report would then be given to Granger.
The Intelligence and Security Committee, one source explained, comprised heads of the joint forces and agencies and also included the Minister of Public Security, Minister of Citizenship, head of the Defence Board and then Minister of State Joseph Harmon. High level staff of the CIU would also be present. “Within the GDF and Police Force there are separate intelligence units. Some people call them ‘Special Branch’ some people call them spies… but what they did was covertly operate in intelligence gathering for the good of the country. They reported to their head, and that head to their Chief of Staff or the Commissioner of Police. ” the source said.
Another explained that every Tuesday, a meeting was held with heads of joint services and agencies such as SOCU and CANU and the Minister of Public Security would then later brief Cabinet on issues discussed and sometimes alone with President Granger, on any matter he felt was sensitive. “Not all security matters were discussed with the entire Cabinet,” the source said.
In 2017 Granger renamed the CIU, the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) and appointed Lovell as its head.
There was no public announcement nor did Granger, as he had advocated years earlier, make the move to have the appointment legislated.
Lovell served until a few months after President Ali was sworn into office in 2020 and he then tendered his resignation.
On Sunday, this newspaper reported that the government was moving to create a national intelligence agency whose Director will be appointed by the President and will have an official standing not less than that of a Chief of Staff of the GDF or a Commissioner of Police and who shall be the principal adviser to the President on matters pertaining to the Act when passed.
The Bill was laid on Monday in the National Assembly.
Under Clause 6, the appointment of the head of this body is the sole purview of the President. Such an arrangement is likely to give rise immediately to concerns.
According to the Explanatory Memorandum of the bill, the functions of the Agency are set out in Clause 4 and these include gathering information on national intelligence and security that will provide a basis for decision making and preventive action and conducting analysis of the information, providing intelligence and security advice to the President, Cabinet and, on the President’s direction where necessary, Ministers and entities in the security sector and other national stakeholders.
Clause 5 provides for the President to give “general and special directions” to the Agency. It also provides that the President may, after consultation with the Minister or any other person the President considers appropriate, “give directions to the Director of a general or specific character regarding policy to be followed by the Agency and the Director shall give effect to those directions”.
According to Clause 6, the Director shall have the authority, direction and control over the Agency subject only to the President. The Director’s official standing shall be equivalent to a position not less than a Chief of Staff or Commissioner of Police. The Director shall, subject to the requirement of legal advice, be the Principal adviser to the President on matters relating to the provisions of this Act.
The qualifications of the Director and Deputy Director shall be a minimum of a first degree (or of an equivalent level) from a recognized university in the field or related field of intelligence, counter intelligence, security and defence or strategic studies.
Clause 20 says that the Director shall have full operational powers including the power to organise, approve and supervise all activities and direct analytical and technical cooperation and external operations.
Under Clause 21, officers of the Agency in the discharge of their functions will have powers of police and officers of the defence force.
The Agency under Clause 22 will have the power to provide for the use of undercover intelligence support for its operations.
In the discharge of its functions the Agency under Clause 23 shall have the power to intercept communications within the meaning of and in the manner provided in the Interception of Communications Act, Cap. 47:03.
Clause 24 provides for the provision of information by public bodies to the Agency on request by the Director notwithstanding the Access to Information Act 2011 or any other law.
Clause 25 provides that for the purposes of the Access to Information Act 2011, the Agency shall not be regarded as a public authority.
Clause 26 provides for the Agency to be kept apprised by entities in the security sector with all “relevant and timely information and intelligence relating to national security interest”.
Clause 27 caters for other entities in the security sector whose mandates require the conduct of intelligence gathering operations to consult with the Agency for the purpose of coordinating the intelligence programmes and operations of those entities.
The President yesterday said that he wanted it clear that “different governments were working to ensure the legislative framework for this agency”.
“What is happening now is that we are moving towards the legislative framework. That is all that is happening” he asserted.
And on who he will appoint as a head, the President said that he would wait. “I can’t tell you who is going to head it… but right now Mr. Khan is the head of the agency.”
