Publicado por vez primera en: Statewatch, vol.12 nº1, Jan-Feb 2002
Spain - New intelligence agency
Arturo Quirantes Sierra (Batman)
The Spanish Congress (lower court) is currently debating a draft to introduce a
new intelligence agency, the Centro Nacional de Inteligencia (CNI,
National Intelligence Center). The CNI will become Spain´s equivalent to toe
American CIA or MI5/MI6 in Britain replacing CESID (Centro Superior de
Información de la Defensa, the army´s intelligence centre), which also
carries out non-military intelligence duties. It will give the president and government information, analyses, studies and
proposals to allow the prevention of any risk, threat, or aggression against the
independence or territorial integrity of Spain, its national interests and
stability.
The CNI will be attached to the Ministry of Defence, although the primer
minister has the power to place it under a different body. It´s targets,
and goals, will be defined in a secret Intelligence Directive. its
functions will be to:
a) "obtain,
evaluate and interpret information, and distribute intelligence, necessary to
protect Spain´s political, economic, industrial, commercial and strategic
interests";
b)" prevent, detect and neutralize
activity by foreign intelligence services which might endanger the country";
c) "promote relationships of
cooperation and partnership with the intelligence services of other countries,
including international bodies";
d) "obtain, evaluate and interpret "signal
traffic of a strategic nature";
e) "coordinate the actions of
government bodies which use encryption procedures and guarantee IT security
This follows the example of other intelligence services, particularly "Anglo-Saxon"
(USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) ones, by linking wide-scale
electronic surveillance, cryptography functions and "Spies-r-us" informal
international bodies. This attitude was already apparent last June, when
President George Bush visited Spain and offered technological assistance to
Spanish intelligence bodies, including the possibility of using the Echelon
system in the fight against ETA in the Basque region (CESID seemed specially
interested in the decryption technology). On 5 January 3003 the spanish daily
newspaper ABC said that FBI experts were working alongside Spanish police to
decrypt data in computers seized from ETA members.
The CNI will be authorized to establish cooperation/coordination links with
other government bodies (most likely to be law enforcement agencies and
organisations with information databases such as the Tax office or Customs and
Excise), "when relevant." Its director will, among other tasks, fulfill the role
of National Intelligence Authority and head the National Cryptology Center, a
body which was unknown until recently.
The CNI´s work will be overseen by the executive, judiciary and legislative
bodies.
The Executive:. A commission of government representatives will set the annual goals
for
the Center -including those to be included in the Intelligence Directive-,
evaluate the CNI´s work and liaise with law enforcement
bodies. This commission will include the First Vice-President (currently Home
Affairs Minister, Mariano Rajoy), the
Foreign Affairs, Defence, Home Affaifs and Economy ministers, as well as the Secretary of
State for Security and the director of the CNI (who will proposed by the Minister
of Defense to serve a five-year term).
The Judiciary: A parallel "Prior Judicial Control of the CNI" bill states that a
Supreme Court judge will grant authorization to carry out surveillance of
private communications and enter private homes, when such measures are needed to fulfil the
Centre´s goals. Such warrans will be valid for 24 hours, in the case of entry
into people´s homes, and three month in cases involving electronic surveillance. The
responsible judge will be proposed by the president of the CGPJ (General Council of the
Judiciary Power), Spain´s highest judiciary body, and approved by the Plenum of
the CGPJ.
Legislature: The Congress Commission responsible for controlling the use
of "hidden budgets" for the police and intelligence services will oversee the CNI´s
activities.
However, there are two instances in which members of Congress will not have access to
information:
a) when related to sources and means used by the CNI;
b) when the information comes from foreing intelligence services and
international bodies, if agreements on exchange of information state this.
That means that information passed on by the CIA, NATO, or obtained using foreign
Echelon-style systems will not be overseen by the legislature.
This will leave a door open to abuse, as there´s no way of guaranteeing that such
information has been obtained, transferred, or exchanged following the Spanish
law (including privacy or data protection measures).
Although a reform of the Spanish intelligence services has been on the cards for a
long time (it was one of the present government´s electoral promises), events on
1 September have undoubtedly speeded up and influenced the process - the Bill includes a reference to the new challenges
faced by intelligence
services, such as so-called "emerging risks".
The draft bill is currently undergoing scrutiny in the Congress' Defence Commission.
The main opposition groups have already expressed their support for it, although
Izquierda Unida (IU, United
left) and the Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV, Basque Nationalist Party) oppose it. It is expected
that it will be debated in a plenary session of Congress and voted on soon.
© Arturo Quirantes Sierra. Algunos derechos
reservados según Licencia Creative Commons