RONNIE
KASRILS (MP)
MINISTER
FOR INTELLIGENCE SERVICES
SPEECH
ON THE OCCASION
Cape
Town
23
June 2004
SOUTH
AFRICAN INTELLIGENCE SERVICES:
TOWARDS
MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21st
CENTURY
TEN
PRIORITIES FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION
Madam
Speaker, Honourable Members
Introduction:
Performance! Delivery!
Accountability!
The President, in his State of the Nation address at the Opening of
Parliament on
20 May, in this tenth year of our young democracy, drove home his
marching orders to government services compelling us to focus on Performance,
Delivery and Accountability.
It is the duty of all in the Intelligence Services to place the
President’s “getting on with business” exhortations at the heart of their
work – from Minister and managers
to cryptographers and couriers, from those involved in the collection of
information to those who analyze and evaluate, from trainers and technicians to
those who run the risks in the shadows. If
we are to succeed in our tasks, then each of us must clearly answer such
questions as: What are we here for? What are our priorities? How best to make do
with limited resources?
Our
core business
Let us emphasise that this
must mean concentrating on and enhancing our core business, what we should
regard as the holy trinity of our existence:
the
collection of quality information;
its
evaluation and analysis;
and
timely presentation to the decision makers.
Parliament and public, through the Joint Standing Committee for
Intelligence (JSCI), the Auditor General and Inspector General for Intelligence,
must judge us for the unique contribution we are meant to make.
Learning
from history
In our increasingly complex world where the enemy, the battlefields and
threats are not always clear-cut we must utilize the most modern technologies
without downgrading the gathering of information by human beings. To those who
think it is all about the high-tech world of James Bond, let us never cease
learning from the wisdom of ages.
That master sage, Sun Tzu, wrote over 2,500 years ago on the quality of
intelligence:
What is called ‘foreknowledge’ cannot be elicited from spirits, nor
from gods, nor by analogy with past events, nor from calculation.
It must be obtained from men [and women] who know the enemy situation.
Those words remain applicable to this day. Let us not ignore our own history. That military genius Shaka
well knew the importance of spying out the enemy. He formed a specialized unit,
the Khangela amaNkengane, whose duty it was to “khangela” - observe the
comings and goings of the “amaNkengane”, the British, from the heights above
iThekwini (Durban harbour) where to this day there is a place known as Khangela
- often mispronounced as Congella.
Those “amakhangela”- the look-outs – were members of the community
who loved their country and are early examples of South Africa’s dedicated
spies. We call them:
Ukukhusela isizwe! Protectors of the nation! Our
people were eager to collect information on the British and Dutch colonizers and
were curious about what went on back in Britain and the Netherlands.
That universal need for domestic security, and what was brewing beyond
ones’ mountains and shores, led to the development of both internal and
external intelligence services in most countries and gave rise to what is
regarded as the world’s “second oldest profession”. In referring to our heritage we have reference not only to the
wars of resistance against foreign conquest, including the Anglo-Boer war, but
notably from the experience of the struggle for national liberation and
democracy – which gave rise to intelligence services on either side of the
barricades.
After 1994 the successful amalgamation of those structures established
our new transformed services and we need to particularly recall the role of
former Minister Joe Nhlanhla and others during this process. We continue
building on the heritage of our own community of amakhangela and from the best
of international experience.
Challenges of today’s world:
The security threats of the new century are very different from those of
the old. They pose new challenges, for which a new approach is required. The
polarised world order of the Cold War era has given way to more uncertainty and
unpredictability. The globalization of the world economy, communications and
technology, places us in an ever shrinking world. At the same time there is relentless pressure on resources
such as energy, water, minerals, fertile land and food, leading to increased
competition and potential for conflict. This trend may be exacerbated by deepening ethnic, religious
and ideological differences, intolerance and a different kind of polarisation.
This is not a passing phase, it is here to stay. It affects everyone, especially
a new and diverse nation like South Africa, with a range of domestic challenges
and wide international responsibilities, including our obligations within our
region and our commitment to the African renaissance, to the African Union and
New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
Struggle
for limited resources
A consequence of the struggle for limited resources such as oil has seen
a century of instability in the Middle East, and the cycle of intervention and
resistance of which the present upheaval in Iraq is just another tragic chapter.
Already attempts to destabilize West Africa are evident in the scramble
by foreign interests for newly discovered oil reserves. With global long-term
shortages imminent, scientists are investigating the hydrogen fuel cell as an
energy source. President George W Bush talks of the future “hydrogen
economy”. Platinum is being advanced as a possible catalyst to convert
hydrogen into this new form of energy. If
successful, then we in South Africa, are sitting on 86% of the new energy source
of the world. Whatever the developments it is important that we take the
necessary security steps to ensure stability and solidarity in our region and
continent, and protect our resources for the benefit of our people.
Impact of globalisation
Globalisation can bring benefits: sharing of technology and improvements
in telecommunications, ease of travel, greater scope for concerted international
action to deal with poverty, natural disasters, disease, and environmental
changes. But it also opens the way to terrorism, organised crime, trafficking in
people and drugs, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, money laundering -
the new global threats. Criminals and terrorists have access to the same new
technology as governments, and are often better and faster at putting it to use.
They are able to switch their bases of operations, benefiting from ‘soft’
jurisdictions, where laws are lax or ignored, where corruption is rife, where
they can operate in secret. We must
not fall behind in surveillance capacity, information technology or operational
skills.
Global
responsibilities and interests
We cannot allow states to fail, economies to collapse and conflict to
occur unchecked. This is not just because we have a moral responsibility to help
others, but because these are a breeding ground for threats to the wider world,
including South Africa and Africa.
Importance of good intelligence
In recent years the dominant theme in intelligence circles has been
“the failure of intelligence” with reference to the 9/11 catastrophe and
terrorist outrages from East Africa to Bali, from Moscow to Madrid; controversy
surrounding Iraq’s missing weapons of mass destruction; the Kelly saga in
Britain; the blowing up of the Chechnya leader under the noses of his Russian
backers; allegations of manipulation of terrorism alert levels for political
purposes - all reflect negatively on the intelligence community worldwide.
The latest revelation from America concerns the 50 precision-guided air
strikes against the top Iraqi leadership at the start of the war last year.
It has been revealed that all were unsuccessful owing to the lack of
reliable information. *[1]
There is no doubt that if Sun Tzu
were alive today he would remind us never to neglect agents on the ground at the
expense of the latest technology.
Our country - which has demonstrated a good record in containing
terrorist threats in recent years - is not immune from danger.
We need to develop our intelligence and security capability, to foresee
the imminent threats, so we can more effectively deal with them. Good
intelligence saves money. It has
been said that one good agent is worth a division of soldiers on the
battlefield. Reliable agents must
provide the link in the intelligence cycle with technological advances as the
other pillar. As never before,
“Scienta est potentia”- knowledge is power – Ulwazi nga mandla!
Partnership, at home and abroad
Good intelligence and security crucially depends on:
·
co-ordination and partnership at home, so that we use the resources we
have effectively, minimising wasteful duplication and unnecessary rivalry; and:
·
international partnerships, in which we work with friends and neighbours
alike, to pool our efforts where possible and to deal with global threats on a
truly cooperative basis.
Using
resources better
In a country like ours, where we urgently need better housing, health,
schools, the delivery of safe water and electricity, we must ensure the maximum
value of our money through well-run Services. We can achieve so much more by maximising partnerships between
our agencies. This applies especially to central databases, communication
systems, development of new technologies, and fostering a spirit of
co-operation. We must ensure the
sustained coordination of data bases within government’s financial, legal,
security, defence and intelligence clusters.
Secrecy
versus accountability
Effective security and intelligence operations rely on secrecy. Otherwise
they will be operating with one hand tied behind their back. But secrecy must
not be an end in itself, or a cover for abuses. Our Services operate in the name
of our democratic Government and all the people of South Africa. They must
therefore be accountable for what they do, how they do it and gain the trust of
our people. They must operate within the law. Their spending and actions must be
subject to scrutiny. We in South Africa know only too painfully what happens
when the secret services operate without proper control and oversight, and
become a law unto themselves. The JSCI and Inspector General have a crucial
responsibility and we accept that the agreed restriction over operational
information requires integrity from all of us.
Quality not quantity
The
best guarantee of responsible, cost-effective and successful operations is the
quality of our own amakhangela to whom we entrust these vital functions. We must
ensure they receive the best possible training and skills development and occupy
appropriate posts. We must insist on the highest moral and professional
standards from the most junior levels all the way to the top. We must hold them
to account if they should fail, but also ensure they have our full material and
moral support. Quality, not
quantity is what we need: some of the best services in the world are among the
smallest and have attained an excellence with relatively meager resources.
We need to avoid a proliferation of unnecessary structures and posts with
more persons doing less work.
THE
FORCES AND MEANS:
Having outlined our views towards meeting the key challenges we face in
the 21st Century let us briefly look at the forces and means at our
disposal and how best to utilize our resources.
FORCES:
National
Intelligence Agency (NIA)
The National Intelligence Agency is the biggest of our Services and is
responsible for domestic and counter intelligence.
It has undergone a major transformation including refocusing its mandate
to better deal with a wide range of intelligence and security functions. NIA
has had to strengthen its capacity in the provinces, contend with enormous
vetting demands which it still has to get to grips with, conduct security
investigations and auditing, technical surveillance counter measures and
successfully counter espionage and terrorist threats. NIA’s
professionalism is exemplified by the efficient way it has dealt with the
security demands for many international events hosted in our country and the
national elections, including the Presidential inauguration.
South
African Secret Service (SASS)
The SASS mandate is the collection of information on the situation
outside our borders by means that cannot simply be obtained through diplomatic
channels and open sources in pursuit of our national interests abroad.
This does not mean that SASS members regard the foreign environment as
necessarily hostile. They collaborate and form partnerships with their
counterparts wherever feasible. The
past few years has seen the expansion of our presence abroad, particularly in
Africa where SASS and our specialized support unit continue to play a critical
role in conflict resolution in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Great Lakes
area and elsewhere.
National
Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC)
NICOC coordinates and enhances the information and analytical products
supplied by our domestic and foreign intelligence services, including the
identification of possible threats. It provides intelligence estimates to
Cabinet and other government clients and is seeking to attain higher levels of
excellence in identifying strategic intelligence tasks in priority areas and in
predicting outcomes. NICOC is reconceptualising our National Early Warning
Centre to link with a SADC Regional Centre in Gaborone.
National
Communications Centre (NCC)
The NCC is our state of the art communications monitoring section and is
vital to our country’s security. It is staffed by extremely dedicated and
highly skilled personnel. It is involved in establishing the Office of
Interceptions Centre and operates in strict compliance with the law under a
judge’s authorisation. The NCC
must ensure investment and training in information technology and is helping
establish the electronic communications security company, COMSEC (Pty) Ltd.
which will cater exclusively for government’s needs.
South
African National Academy of Intelligence (SANAI)
SANAI, established near Mafeking last year, after the initial Academy in
Pretoria was closed down, is tasked with developing training and skills of our
amakhangela, as well as engaging in research and curricula development. Its
mandate also extends to training personnel from fraternal African states. The
Academy has been recording steady progress.
Intelligence
Services Council (ISC)
The ISC was established last year as an independent oversight structure
to attend to human resource issues and service conditions. It has filled an
important vacuum in attending to their needs and interests and has swiftly
proved its worth. Sadly, the passing away just last week of their Deputy
Chairperson, Mr. Richard Knollys has robbed us of an outstanding official who
made a great contribution to the transformation and unity of our services. Our
sincere condolences to his family and colleagues.
Crime
Intelligence and Defence Intelligence
This budget vote does not deal with crime and defence intelligence.
I take the opportunity, however, to express appreciation for their
exceptional work and to stress that the Ministers of Defence, Safety and
Security and I are committed to strengthening collaboration.
THE
MEANS:
The
Budget
Madam Speaker, Honourable Members,
Let us now consider the financial means at our disposal.
In this financial year the amount allocated for the civilian intelligence
services budget is R1,978, 647 billion rands. This is 0, 53% of the total
government budget or 0,14% of GDP and represents a R316 million increase over
last year. The allocation has more
than doubled over the last four years, growing by 115%.
Whilst this shows government’s recognition of the role of the Services
the increase needs to be seen relative to the 1995-2001 period where it scarcely
rose. The allocation for 1995 was R818 million and by 2000 had only grown to
R840 million – a minimal R22 million increase that failed to keep pace with
the inflation rate.
This meant that until 2001 the intelligence budget was virtually static,
yet considerable funds were required for retirement and severance packages
brought about by the amalgamation process.
The dramatic increase from 2001 onwards was necessitated by our growing
presence abroad; new construction projects; capital equipment for our National
Communications Centre’s expanding role; the transfer of the Academy to
Mafeking; establishment of the ISC and Office of the Inspector General; growth
of the Ministry and increases in the overall staff compliment of all the
Services. One result is that the
salary bill increased to well over 57% of the budget with NIA’s personnel
expenditure topping that. This
could not but affect spending patterns to the long-term detriment of operational
and capital equipment requirements. Serious adjustments will have to be made in
favour of direct operational activity - the rock-face of business - and the need
to ensure that the capital equipment and facilities being consumed on an annual
basis are systematically renewed so that they are available in the long-term.
We dare not leave a future Minister with the legacy of obsolete equipment
and insufficient operational and capital renewal funds.
I have taken immediate steps to curtail certain construction plans which
I regard as non-essential and will reduce the size and budget of my Ministry. Our
fundamental challenge is to bring about a sustainable, balanced ratio between
personnel, operational and capital allocation.
This will not be quick or easy to achieve but is imperative if our
Services are to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.
Madam Speaker, Honourable Members:
We must ensure that we give value for money. We must ensure that the
funds entrusted to us are spent correctly and prudently and that we avoid
wasteful and superfluous expenditure. At
the end of each year we must be accountable and ask: How
well did
we perform? What did we deliver? and “What difference did we make?
The
way forward
Regarding the way forward I acknowledge the notable efforts of my
predecessor Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to promote partnerships with civil society,
including the media, academia, business and non-governmental organizations.
Their contribution to development of policy in areas such as the classification
and declassification of government records and the regulation of the private
intelligence and security industry, will be of value in our review of the White
Paper on Intelligence.
I also acknowledge Minister Sisulu’s efforts to place intelligence at
the centre of government and will build partnerships with service delivery
departments to overcome obstacles that may threaten our country’s progress.
Ten
Priorities For Action
As part of the way forward with a focus on improving our capabilities
over the next five years, I am instructing my Service Chiefs to provide me with
business plans concerning the following ten priorities for immediate action:
1.
the optimum utilization of resources, ensuring sufficient funds are allocated to core business and
the necessary adjustment in personnel, operational and capital expenditure;
2.
the targeted recruitment, training and strategic placement of members;
3.
the improved operational capacity in the provinces and abroad;
4.
deepening synergy with regard to intelligence sharing and coordination
between all Services, including crime, defence and finance;
5.
enhancement of NICOC’s strategic analytical skills, national intelligence estimates
and the National Early Warning Centre;
6.
developing intelligence
cooperation in Africa and with our international partners with a focus on
conflict prone areas of our continent;
7.
strengthening security at our ports of entry;
8.
fully implementing the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS) within all government departments;
9.
the projected development
and costing of the Intelligence Academy, its syllabus and training commitments
and its future;
10.
and comprehensive
improvements in our vetting capacity.
Business plans for these priorities and other tasks I have referred to
must be presented to me within three months! The performance contracts and annual evaluation of management
and staff will be related to these objectives. We are not talking about quick-fix solutions but building and
sustaining quality performance for the 21st Century. We are realistic
and aware that “a nation’s ability to fashion an elaborate intelligence
network is limited by the development of skills which can take decades, indeed
centuries to define.” *2
Our services have been proving their worth, and we mean to create a
culture of excellence. Implementing these ten priorities in the short term will
build on the achievements of ten years and help us take qualitative strides
forward over the next five years. If necessary, we will be considering the
merits of a full-scale Intelligence Services Review.
My
Pledge
South Africa needs effective, vigilant, professional, accountable
intelligence and security services. We must foster teamwork at home, and
partnership with those who share our interests abroad. We need a well-informed
and secure South Africa, with a government better able to carry out its
programme of development to provide a better life and opportunity for all our
people and able to play an effective and responsible role in Africa and the
wider world.
I pledge myself, and the women and men who work in our intelligence and
security agencies, to work for these goals.
In
Appreciation
Last year we promoted an advert celebrating another normal day in South
Africa. Our acknowledgement to the people of South Africa and to those unsung
members of the Intelligence Services: serving, retired and deceased. They are
neither super-human caricatures of James Bond nor spooks but our own amakhangela
who keep watch to ensure we can all work and sleep in safety.
Theba y sechaba! Shield of the Nation!
My appreciation to the Director Generals, Vusi Mavimbela of NIA, Tim
Dennis of SASS, Jeff Maqetuka of NICOC, Mphakama Mbete of SANAI, Sizakele
Sixgashe of the ISC, and all their
dedicated management and staff members. My
acknowledgement to the Inspector General, Zola Ngcakani and to the Chairperson
of the JSCI Siyabonga Cwele and the newly sworn-in members of the committee.
Many thanks to the Head of Ministerial Services, Dennis Thokozani Nkosi
ka Dlomo, and my personal staff who work extremely long hours and are providing
the support I need.
Our Services and country owe a deep debt of gratitude to the first
Minister of Intelligence in a democratic South Africa, Joe Nhlanhla.
We congratulate him on being awarded the Order of Luthuli by President
Mbeki and wish him improved health. In the spirit of this speech. I
intend introducing annual awards in his name for the best cost effective
innovations per Service, Province and individual.
Conclusion
On a closing note, a wise man has said:
“The ideal intelligence report can be read by the light of a match on
a restive horse on a windy night.” *[i]
I hope we can spare our President such discomfort, but if we are to
succeed, then the product of our labour must be compelling.
Honourable members I ask you to adopt the budget allocation for the
civilian Intelligence Services. I thank you.
*1. “Errors in early attacks on Iraqi Leaders” by
Jehl and Schmitt, June 13, 2004.
*2.
“Ambivalent Bedfellows: German-American Intelligence Relations” by Johnson
& Freyberg
*3.
Lt General Sir William Platt (no idea who he is but it’s a fun quote)