Address by Ronnie Kasrils, MP, Minister for Intelligence Services on the occasion of the Intelligence Services Budget Debate, National Assembly, Cape Town

Emulating the Skills of the African Spies of Yesteryear
Chairperson
Honourable members

Introduction

Since time immemorial leaders have depended on the skills of those entrusted with intelligence gathering to alert them of threats to their security. This became an integral part of statecraft centuries ago. Today is Africa Day and it is appropriate that we turn to our own history.

One such example is depicted on your invitation to this debate, portraying the amaXhosa reconnaissance scouts iintlola of the Eastern Cape frontier, which was drawn by a British officer who, after encountering these skilled spies, wrote: "The cunning manner in which he contrives to gain knowledge of our movements, is worthy of note. Should a patrol set out on any duty from headquarters information is immediately conveyed by means of mounted spies to the threatened quarter, however great we may fancy the secrecy employed on our part."

Whilst the battlefield has changed, we need our intelligence services as ever to emulate the skills of the iintlola, the amakhangela and the Boer Commando scouts of yesteryear. And while much remains to be done, my address will be directed to reporting on our progress to do precisely that and the steps we intend taking to meet the challenges ahead.

Core business focus

Foremost are the advances made in our programme to strengthen the professional capacity of our intelligence services for the 21st century. Members will recall that in 2004, we pledged to boost our performance by concentrating our resources and activities on our core business, reflected in the main pillars of the intelligence cycle, what we termed our 'Holy Trinity' through the collection of quality information; its sophisticated analysis and assessment and its timely presentation.

Ten priorities

Flowing from this we identified ten key priorities on which the success of our programme could be judged. While time does not allow me to interrogate each in detail, let me share some highlights, which demonstrate that we are recording measurable progress, giving value for money and are determined to make a difference:

1. We pledged to optimise the use of our resources by ensuring that sufficient funds are allocated to core business through adjustments to our personnel, operational and capital expenditure ratio's:

Our primary concern was that in 2004, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and all the spending centres, apart from the South African Secret Service (Sass), had a salary bill of over 70 percent, which was rising towards consuming the entire annual budget allocation at the expense of operations and capital investment. Urgent intervention was required and I am delighted to report that this figure has now been decreased to 61 percent, with expenditure on our all important operations budget consequently able to rise from 24 percent to 28 percent and capital investment from two percent to 10 percent.

Whilst Sass did not face the same acute problems in respect of their salary bill, they have also undertaken a process of adjustment. Personnel expenditure and capital investment are firmly within identified thresholds, with operational spending able to improve from 15% in 2005 to 22% in 2006. By anyone's reckoning remarkable progress has been achieved. These figures speak for themselves and constitute measurable areas of achievement.

2. We pledged to ensure the targeted recruitment, training and strategic placement of members:

Our recruitment has been geared to filling priority vacancies, which are crucial to our core business. New recruits are undergoing stricter assessment and improved formative training prior to deployment.

We identify skills requirements more thoroughly and have been evaluating serving officers to ascertain whether they are really fit for the demands. As a result, some members have been redeployed, whilst others are undergoing extensive training where necessary.

3. We pledged to improve our operational capacity in the provinces and abroad:

Over the past year, NIA has improved operational capacity in the provinces, which we said we would do, through shifting resources, for example, to strengthen our provincial surveillance and border intelligence capabilities amongst other tasks. Similarly, Sass has improved operational capacity abroad, through directing the gains associated with the rise in operational expenditure to, for instance, enhancing their technical capabilities in safeguarding our overseas missions.

4. We pledged to deepen synergy with regard to intelligence sharing and co-ordination between all services, including crime, defence and finance:

Under certain circumstances there is a need to move from a 'need to know' to a 'need to share' approach where appropriate. The National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) has formed interdepartmental project teams, which have made a great difference. Organised around our most pressing intelligence priorities, they incorporate representatives from a range of departments including foreign affairs, crime, defence and finance, enabling us to draw on the best information available across government.

5. We pledged to enhance NICOC's analytical skills, national intelligence estimates and the National Early Warning Centre:

NICOC embarked on a drive to build our analytical capacity by fostering relationships with civil society experts; establishing an association bringing together analysts from across the services to share best practice; and head-hunting additional specialists. These initiatives, in tandem with our project teams, have contributed to an improved National Intelligence Estimate and a growth in the range and number of products. These rose from 38 in 2005 to 271 last year for NICOC alone.

South Africa's National Early Warning Centre, housed at NICOC, received a major upgrade, providing a technically advanced facility for early warning indications of conflict, interfacing with the early warning systems of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the continent, so as to ensure far greater reach, capacity and foresight.

6. We pledged to develop intelligence co-operation in Africa and with our international partners:

Sass has been at the forefront of intelligence co-operation in Africa. We have a firm footprint across the continent and relationships with over 60 services internationally. Apart from sharing intelligence on matters of mutual concern, we embarked on a programme providing technical equipment, expertise and training to assist the services of certain states emerging from conflict situations.

7. We pledged to implement the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) within all government departments:

The appointments of Security Managers in government departments, which have been trained and supported by NIA, are essential to implementing security guidelines such as MISS. As a result, there has been a marked rise in the number of departments with improved MISS implementation from 53% in 2004 to 80% in 2007. Its guidelines will be updated to deal with the latest electronic intrusion technologies.

8. We pledged to strengthen security at our borders and ports of entry:

We continue to play a valuable role in support of a number of interdepartmental committees that have been established to ensure a more co-ordinated approach to border security. Those upgrades, together with the threat risk assessments undertaken by NIA at our major airports, borders and ports of entry are indicative of progress.

9. We pledged to look at the projected development and costing of the South African National Academy for Intelligence (Sanai), its syllabus, training commitments and future:

Much sweat and effort has been expended to place Sanai, as a fledgling institution, on a stronger footing, ranging from interventions to improve its syllabus, trainers, management and infrastructure. I do not want to pretend this is easy but we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

10. We pledged to make comprehensive improvements in our vetting capacity:

Vetting investigation turnaround times have improved, where a top secret security clearance now takes 49 days to complete compared to 60. A confidential clearance takes 14 days instead of 30. This has led to an overall growth in the number of clearances issued annually, which have nearly doubled since 2004. Most noteworthy has been Cabinet's endorsement of our new vetting strategy that will build capacity within all government departments. Detailed reports of progress regarding the ten priorities are available.

Quality products and operational breakthroughs

The quality of our products has improved and was commended by the President in his address on Intelligence Services Day last year. We have seen significant operational breakthroughs ranging from the disruption of trans-national smuggling and money laundering syndicates; to foiling a plot directed at destabilising a neighbouring country; to exposing individuals engaged in espionage; to the provision of early warning insight into the plans of belligerents. "Success breeds success."

Chairperson, Honourable Members

Just as success breeds success, in the year ahead we will build on our gains by sharpening our core business focus and intensifying the implementation of our plans to improve our professional capacity.

Adherence to the Constitution, the rule of law and democratic norms

We will not limit this to securing heightened technical competence and tradecraft. We are enhancing an awareness of the necessity for legality and propriety, ensuring that our activities do not undermine the very democracy which we have sworn to protect. We are ensuring that all officers clearly understand that they serve professionally at the behest of our people and as such the powers they command must always be used responsibly. We aim to strengthen an institutional culture that promotes adherence to the Constitution, the rule of law and democratic norms. We serve the government of the day and will not bend the rules, for who will then decide how far the bend will go?

Civic Education Programme

Creating this professional ethos involves the Civic Education Programme we launched recently. A curriculum has been developed and Sanai, together with the service heads, is responsible for piloting the programme. This will be supported by a series of public debates, engaging with academics, media specialists and civil society on the role of intelligence in a democracy.

Strengthening compliance

We have strengthened the regulatory mechanisms to ensure compliance with the constitutional and legal framework. Much work has been undertaken to address deficiencies in our policies and to enforce stricter control, authorisation, monitoring and oversight of our operations. We will provide legislative expression to internal measures that have been introduced.

Ministerial review commission

The vigour of this approach will be tested and augmented by the recommendations of the Ministerial Review Commission, chaired by Mr Joe Matthews, which was launched last year. The Commission's brief, as Members know, is to review our legislation, regulations, operational policies and mandate including the 'political intelligence' mandate in order to advise whether there is a need to revise the existing framework.

The Commission is working diligently and the recommendations contained in their final report which may be completed by the end of 2007, will also have engaged public comment. I want to encourage intelligence officers, both past and presently serving, to feel free to contact the Commission to make submissions.

Openness and secrecy

The common thread binding these initiatives is our belief that certain matters of intelligence policy must be subject to informed public debate. There is no room in the services of a healthy democracy, such as ours, for warped or inappropriate notions of secrecy. If tolerated, these become counter-productive and harmful to the intelligence practitioners themselves. We have an obligation to place a high premium on greater accountability, which is why during this year we intend introducing legislation setting out a process for the declassification of information, which the current Protection of Information Act makes no provision for.

Indeed, we must allow for access to certain information in the interests of national security. We must make it clear, however, that there are instances where we are required to jealously protect information in the very interests of national security. These instances are clearly set out in law; they relate to safeguarding the identities of agents and sources and details of operations, the effectiveness of which depends on the secrecy that we must maintain.

Therefore the fuss about our recent application to the Constitutional Court for the continued protection of certain documents from public disclosure in the Masetlha appeal is very difficult to fathom. These documents amount to a small fraction of the court record and have legitimately been withheld precisely because they contain those details that we are legally prohibited from disclosing. Our actions contrary to the distorted headline's proclaiming that we are 'above the law' were in keeping with our responsibilities in terms of the law. We abide by transparency in the public interest but will rigorously apply the rules of secrecy where appropriate. After all if we do not operate according to the necessary rules of secrecy and security we would be no more than a glorified information and research bureau!

National, continental and international intelligence priorities

Chairperson and Honourable Members,

In today's world we cannot lose focus. Our offensive and defensive capabilities must continue to be mobilised towards securing real and secret intelligence in those areas of gravest risk to the successful fulfilment of our government's programme to build a more secure country, continent and world.

A more secure country

We are fortunate to report that there are no indications of any serious threat to our constitutional order; but remain vigilant to any potential dangers arising from espionage or subversive activities. We will improve our capacity to reinforce the police in countering organised crime of whatever nature. We will continue to ensure that all events hosted by our country are properly secured and incident free and can confidently guarantee this for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Terrorism

We also remain alert to averting the possibility of a terrorist attack or the use of our territory by subversive elements from whatever quarter. While we are neither a primary target nor a safe haven, we cannot afford to be complacent, as no country is immune from this threat. We do not condone the indiscriminate use of violence against civilians, whether by state or non-state terror. Nor can we be accused of being 'soft' on terror, as our record in respect of the containment of such activities demonstrates.

We do, however, believe that the 'terror' label should not be indiscriminately or incorrectly applied, as this becomes a hindrance to genuine investigations. This has unfortunately become all too commonplace in the global environment. We also maintain that terrorism can only be purposely dealt with by going beyond its manifestations to paying concerted attention to its root causes. And we are concerned that the so-called 'global war on terror' has opened a Pandora's Box. It has fuelled a host of unforeseen and unintended consequences, human tragedies, extreme reactions, deep grievances and veers on a dangerous phobia about Islam; one of the world's most respected and venerated religions, which has been practiced in our country, along with other creeds, without any controversy or problems whatsoever for centuries. And will continue to do so Insha'Allah; Baruch Hashem; God Willing; Amen!

In strengthening our efforts to combat terrorism, we will continue to engage in co-operation with governments the world-over. We do so, however, not as anybody's 'lackeys' but as a state with clearly defined international and domestic security obligations to all people. As such we will never countenance the victimisation of any of the diverse communities that constitute and enrich our democracy.

When we speak of the Boeremag we do not refer to an ethnic group, similarly when we speak of Al Qaeda we do not refer to a religious community. We must move away from simplistic and value laden terms, ensuring that all our communities join hands as they did to defeat apartheid, to define a common language and strategy with which to deal with terrorism, of whatever kind, which fraudulently invokes God's name and threatens us all, irrespective of colour, creed or nationality. We will never undermine those cultural and religious traditions we, as South Africans, cherish and will safeguard in terms of our Constitution and law, without fear or favour.

A more secure continent

In turning to our support for government's programme in building a more secure continent, we note with satisfaction the contribution made in the process towards the restoration of peace in the Great Lakes region, more especially the successful elections held in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2006. We will continue to work with the parties in the DRC and Great Lakes region to ensure that the stability attained is firmly secured and translated into concrete action towards post-conflict reconstruction.

While we acknowledge these gains, we remain focused on those areas of our continent where instability persists. We are concerned about the Horn of Africa, particularly the festering conflict in Somalia, which could have major continental repercussions. The situation in Sudan and particularly Darfur remains complex and a priority. We continue to interact with all parties in Zimbabwe to encourage progress to resolve its domestic challenges. These efforts will be reinforced by the SADC's appointment of our President as a facilitator.

A more secure world

In looking beyond the continent at our support for our government's programme to build a more secure world, we mention with pride our role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. This was recently praised by the President of the Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams, who in expressing his appreciation to several South Africans involved, highlighted the positive impact our own negotiated settlement had on developments there.

It is this maturity, which is sorely needed in the Middle East, with the Palestinian people living under the most unbearable and repressive conditions imaginable. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights. We will continue to do what we can to support a just settlement, with a viable Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. This is in the interests of both Israeli's and Palestinian's, but is also integral to resolving the wider conflict engulfing the region.

Essentiality to progress is the need for Israel, with its superior power and resources, to make positive moves, as our President has urged. Israel must release the Palestinian customs revenue it withholds, its occupation and land seizures, halt its aggression against the Palestinian people to remove the Separation Wall; implement the United Nations resolutions, including that on the Rights of the Refugees and embark on good faith negotiations with the democratically elected leadership of the Palestinian National Unity Government, which we believe is doing its best to reciprocate, under the most adverse of circumstances. This has included the cutting off of certain international funds, constituting a cruel and collective punishment on the Palestinian people for electing leaders unpopular with the West. If Israel's leaders are really serious about wanting the rocket-fire and resistance to stop and for its people to live in peace, it is imperative that they address the afore-mentioned requirements.

It is also the wisdom of South Africa's negotiated settlement that should surely be utilised in the current global climate, with the call for an alternative to failed unilateral, militarist solutions, which condemn the majority of the world's inhabitants to a life of poverty, indignity, insecurity and premature death. As such, we will use the opportunities presented in marshalling support for our government's vision of a just, multi-polar international order and a multilateral approach, premised on a commitment to inclusive dialogue in the resolution of conflict as the most appropriate route to achieve the lasting peace, stability and security that all people yearn for.

A personal reflection

It is for this reason that I have travelled widely to places such as Zimbabwe, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, occupied Palestine and elsewhere. And with each visit I am constantly struck by the value that our transition holds for various protagonists, as so recently portrayed in the power sharing government established in Northern Ireland, the inauguration of which I was privileged to attend.

To those critics who question why a Minister for Intelligence should embark on journeys of this nature, I respectfully assert that such missions are precisely what this portfolio is about. Aside from providing an opportunity to share the lessons of our transition, they crucially enable us to obtain the insights and intelligence we require, which is primarily gained through fostering mutually confidential relationships on matters of common interest, directly with the actual role-players.

Conclusion

Chairperson, Honourable Members

Our intelligence services have served us well. They have resolutely carried the mantle of the African reconnaissance scouts of yesteryear and proved their commitment to aspire to even greater heights in the period ahead. In requesting the House to adopt our budget, let us pay tribute to them and express our gratitude to the Heads of the Services, their management teams and all staff whose dedication we acknowledge this Africa Day. In closing, I express my appreciation to my hard working Ministry personnel who make every day at work a rewarding one for me.

I thank you.

Issued by: Ministry for Intelligence
25 May 2007