The legislature’s Budget Center yesterday said that three divisions under the National Security Bureau (NSB), the nation’s main civilian spy agency, remained outside laws regulating the agency, and that if amendments were not made to bring the divisions in line with the organic law regulating the organization, they should cease to function.
The Budget Center, which is in charge of reviewing the books of various government agencies, said in a report that the public relations office, the inspectors’ office and the open source center did not fall under the laws and regulations under which the bureau operates, making them illegal.
Given their status, the units should not be attributed budgets, the report said.
The organic law of the bureau was enacted in 1994. Among other things, the organic law ensures the separation of intelligence functions from law enforcement.
The bureau’s organization law states that six divisions — the information management office, the secretariat, the personnel department, the government ethics division, the scientific research office (which collects signals intelligence), the training center and the special service center — comprise the agency.
The report said the bureau’s public relations division, which is in charge of press officers and public relations, has one director and 13 staff members. The inspector’s office, which is in charge of counter-intelligence within the bureau, has one director and 23 staff members.
The open source center, which is in charge of collecting and analyzing unclassified information relating to intelligence work, has one director and 32 staff members, the report said.
While the bureau refers to the three units as “task forces,” they are real divisions and therefore regulations should be amended so this is reflected in the organic law, or they should be abolished, the report said.
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