Spooks bid for new powers

Vox Populi Vox Dei

Vox Populi Vox Dei

High Tory
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On our way to becoming a police state...

A storm is brewing over a draft Bill to be processed by Parliament this year that will legalise the bugging of citizens without a warrant in some circumstances and widen the scope of "counterintelligence" activities.

The Intelligence General Laws Amendment Bill has been attacked as "a major U-turn in government policy" and for largely ignoring the recommendations of the 2008 Matthews Commission, which highlighted unconstitutional provisions in South Africa's intelligence laws.

Against the backdrop of other planned legislation that bolsters spies and weakens civil society, including the Protection of State Information Bill (the secrecy Bill), fears were expressed that the legislation is part of a broader drift towards a "security state" under President Jacob Zuma.

It is seen as marking the transformation from an intelligence mindset where the intelligence services are neutral gatherers of information which is passed to the executive to adjust policy or take action, to a state security mindset in which the agency views its role as countering "enemies of the state".

Published in the Government Gazette late last year, the Bill seeks to create a single intelligence body, the State Security Agency (SSA), by amalgamating existing intelligence structures, including the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the South African Secret Service (SASS).

It also gives legal recognition to the activities of the National Communications Centre, which has the capacity for bulk interception of communications and will be subject to minimal legal restraint. The NIA is responsible for domestic intelligence gathering and the SASS for intelligence gathering abroad.
Click to expand...

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-03-spies-bid-for-new-powers
 
The apartheid regime is dead, long live the apartheid regime!
 
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