Guyana: plans underway to establish a spy agency

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC- Plans are being made to establish a National Intelligence and Security Agency that will report directly to the President, deploy agents to foreign diplomatic missions, and collect information from any public authority despite existing that may prohibit the disclosure of such information.

This comes as the government is preparing to pass new legislation to facilitate this,

According to Demerara Online News- a copy of the National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill, which has been published in the Official Gazette, states that the Director is empowered to deploy agents abroad.

“The Director, with the approval of the President, may assign officers of the agency to serve as liaison officers to embassies abroad, when necessary for the fulfillment of the agency’s responsibilities,” the draft law states.

Publication of the Bill with that provision comes against Guyana’s territorial disputes with neighboring Venezuela and Suriname and persistently intense criticism of the People’s Progressive Party Civic-led administration by several persons on Social Media. Wanted bulletins have been issued for at least one of the Social media activists. Guyana is also regarded as a major destination for illegal weapons and narcotics.

While the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations does not allow sending countries to send police or intelligence agents to a foreign nation, provisi0n is made by military, naval, or air attachés. Still, the receiving State may require their names to be submitted beforehand for approval. The Police Act and the Defence Act will cover agents of the proposed National Intelligence and Security Agency.

According to the Bill, the functions of the agency are in keeping with the defense and foreign policies of the State; protection against threats from espionage, terrorism, and sabotage from the activities of persons within Guyana or agents of foreign powers; defense of actions from within Guyana or agents of foreign powers intended to undermine democracy and State institutions.

The Bill states that the agency, with the approval of the President, engages, communicates, and operates with foreign agencies to achieve a particular objective in the interest of national intelligence and security.

The Convention allows sending States, in this case, Guyana, to appoint mission staff members freely but can ask any of them to leave or prevent them from entering that foreign country.

“The receiving State may, at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the mission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission. A person may be declared non grata or not acceptable before arriving in the territory of the receiving State,” the Convention states.

The Convention says the “members of the staff of the mission” are the members of the diplomatic staff, the administrative and technical staff, and the service staff of the mission.

The law empowers the National Intelligence Agency agents to carry firearms only to defend themselves. No civil or criminal action can be taken against anyone, including lawyers, for sharing information with the agency’s spies. In addition to using undercover intelligence to support its work, the Interception of Communications Act will empower the agency to intercept communications.

The National Intelligence and Security Agency Bill proposes wide-ranging powers by the new spy agency to go after information in possession of any public body regardless of any other law that presumably guarantees confidentiality. “The agency may request a public body for information, and the public body shall, notwithstanding the Access to Information Act 2011 or any other law, make any information requested to the agency within 48 hours or within a reasonable time stated in the request,” the Bill states. Legal experts say a public body is any State agency ranging from a neighborhood Council to public utilities, constitutional commissions, law enforcement agencies, and the Guyana Revenue Authority.

According to the proposed law, Spies can inspect and take notes, extracts, or certified samples of any work, document, record, or material stored electronically or digitally in any computer or device.

The law empowers the National Intelligence and Security Agency to be consulted by all other entities that are required to conduct intelligence to coordinate the intelligence programs and operations of those entities. The agency will be empowered to collect information on national security and intelligence interest to assist with decision-making and preventative actions.

The President will be responsible for appointing the Director of the spy agency. That person will be equal to a Police Commissioner or Chief of Staff.

After consultation with other parliamentary parties, the Opposition Leader could nominate a representative on the national intelligence committee.

SOURCE