Divisyen Keselamatan dan Perisikan 保安与情报司 பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் புலனாய்வு பிரிவு | |
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 17 February 1966[citation needed] |
Jurisdiction | Government of Singapore |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive |
|
Parent agency | Ministry of Defence[1] |
Website | Official website |
The Security and Intelligence Division (SID) is the foreign intelligence service of Singapore under the purview of the Ministry of Defence, tasked with gathering, processing and analysing national security information from around the world that concerns the country's external security and national interests.[2] Although it is within the Ministry of Defence, it has a certain independence in that it is not under the control of either of the Permanent Secretaries of Defence.[3] It is also highly secretive as most of its personnel are only known to Singapore's top officials.[4]
The SID is led by a director, who holds the rank equivalent of Permanent Secretary and reports directly to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).[5] In the 1970s, the director reported directly to the Minister for Defence.
History and activities[]
The SID shared a similar background to its domestic counterpart, the Internal Security Department (ISD). In the aftermath of 1915 Singapore Mutiny, to collect the political intelligence, espionage, and the surveillance of potential subversives,[6] a political intelligence bureau was established in Singapore under direct command and control of Major General Dudley Howard Ridout, General-Officer-Commanding (GOC) Singapore,[7] which eventually became the Criminal Intelligence Department (Special Branch) in 1919.[6] Before 1965, Singapore's primary intelligence agency was the Malaysian Special Branch. After Singapore gained independence in 1965, the Ministry of Interior and Defence was directed to reorganise and consolidate all intelligence capabilities in January 1966. The SID was subsequently established in February 1966, with Tay Seow Huah as its first Director.[8] In 1974, S. R. Nathan, who was then the SID Director, led a negotiation team to help resolve the Laju hostage crisis.[9]
As the SID is a highly secretive organisation, information about its activities is only released occasionally to the media. In 2001, Yap Chuin Wei, a reporter from The Straits, interviewed a former SID officer on the agency's work. The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the SID works in three main ways: collection of information, analysis of information, and informal diplomacy.[10] The SID was also mentioned in Lee Kuan Yew's book From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, in which it is said to have played a role in providing weapons to anti-communist forces in Cambodian Civil War in the 1970s.[11] The SID also played a role in rebuilding Singapore's relations with Indonesia after the Konfrontasi ended in 1966.[10] Tim Huxley wrote a short history of the SID in his book Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of Singapore, which was published in 2000.[12]
The former SID officer interviewed by Yap said that SID officers rarely receive public awards due to security and political concerns. They are awarded a set of medals equivalent to the National Day medals instead but their names are not publicised.[10]
In 2004, the National Security Coordination Secretariat (NSCS) was set up under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to deal with security threats and terrorism. This meant that the SID and the ISD, which previously worked independent of each other, had to share information for the first time.[13]
In August 2013, it was alleged that the SID cooperated with the Australian Signals Directorate to tap the undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, Europe and the Middle East.[14]
On 19 July 2021, the SID launched its official website to attract and recruit more talents into its ranks.[15]
Directors[]
The following is a list of known Directors of the SID.
Name | In office | Notes | References |
---|---|---|---|
Tay Seow Huah | ? | [16] | |
Tan Boon Seng | ?–1971 | [17] | |
S. R. Nathan | 1971–1979 | [9][17] | |
Eddie Teo | 1979–? | Teo was concurrently the head of the ISD from 1982 to 1986.[18] | [19] |
Choi Shing Kwok | 1995–? | [10][20][21][22][23] | |
Chee Wee Kiong | 2005 – 1 September 2010 | [24][25][26] | |
Ng Chee Khern | 1 September 2010 – 1 May 2014 | [27] | |
Joseph Leong | 2014–2019 | [28] |
See also[]
- Internal Security Department
- National Security Coordination Secretariat
References[]
- ↑ "Security and Intelligence Division Launches Official Website". https://www.mindef.gov.sg/web/portal/mindef/news-and-events/latest-releases/article-detail/2021/July/19jul21_nr.
- ↑ "Reflections on Thirty-Five Years of Public Service: From Espionage to Babies". January 2006. http://www.cscollege.gov.sg/Knowledge/Ethos/Issue%204%20Oct%202005/Pages/03Reflection.pdf.
- ↑ "Present at the Creation". Defence Science Organisation. http://www.dso.org.sg/home/publications/comm/3-Creation.pdf.
- ↑ "Our History". https://www.sid.gov.sg/about-us/our-history/.
- ↑ "Video: Building Security Partnerships in Asia (Chee Wee Kiong)". Blip. http://blip.tv/csis/building-security-partnerships-in-asia-chee-wee-kiong-5954576.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Ban, Kah Choon (2001). The Untold Story of Special Branch Operations in Singapore 1915-1942. Raffles.
- ↑ Comber, Leon (13 August 2009). "The Singapore Mutiny (1915) and the Genesis of Political Intelligence in Singapore". pp. 529–541. Digital object identifier:10.1080/02684520903069462.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>
tag; no text was provided for refs namedTSH
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "S. R. Nathan". National Library Board Singapore. http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_490_2004-12-23.html.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Yap, Chuin Wei (19 May 2001). "Examining the world's second-oldest profession". https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/beritamalaysia/conversations/topics/34955.
- ↑ Lee, Kuan Yew (2000). From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000. HarperCollins. pp. 378–379. ISBN 0060197765. https://archive.org/details/fromthirdworldto00leek/page/378.
- ↑ Huxley, Tim (2000). Defending the Lion City: The Armed Forces of Singapore. Australia: Allen & Unwin. pp. 89–90. ISBN 1-86508-118-3.
- ↑ Tor, Ching Li (21 July 2004). "United front against terror". p. 6. http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=today20040721-1.2.10.3&sessionid=c5264d400b1b4aa9917969dd35e417c3&keyword=%22security+and+intelligence+division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence.
- ↑ Dorling, Phillip (29 August 2013). "Spy agency taps undersea cables". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/national/spy-agency-taps-undersea-cables-20130828-2squf.html#ixzz2mK9WWPvv.
- ↑ Tor, Ching Li (19 July 2021). "Singapore intelligence officers open up as SID seeks to recruit more diverse talent". https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/sid-singapore-intelligence-officers-security-recruitment-2049961.
- ↑ "Tay Seow Huah Book Prize". S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. http://www.rsis.edu.sg/grad/academic-awards.htm. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Civil service reshuffle". 6 August 1971. p. 10. http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19710806.2.58&sessionid=43cddf711ddc48b58798f5d779ce79aa&keyword=%22Security+and+Intelligence+Division%22&lang=en&token=and%2csecurity%2cdivision%2cintelligence. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ "Mr Eddie Teo has extensive experience in public admin". 26 July 2008. http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20080726-78992.html. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ Backman, Michael (31 May 2006). "Downsides devalue Singapore Inc". theage.com.au. http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/downsides-devalue-singapore-inc/2006/05/30/1148956345908.html?page=fullpage. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ "Press Release: Changes In Permanent Secretary Appointments". Public Service Division, Prime Minister's Office. 1 June 2012. http://app.psd.gov.sg/data/Changes%20to%20Permanent%20Secretary%20Appointments%20-%201%20Jun.pdf. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ "Defence chief heads list of 653 officers to be promoted". 28 June 1996.
- ↑ "MAS to get new managing director". 22 February 2005.
- ↑ "Achievers in many fields". 9 August 2000.
- ↑ "New appointments for other permanent secretaries". 13 August 2010.
- ↑ "Press Release: Appointment Of Head Of Civil Service And Permanent Secretaries". Public Service Division, Prime Minister's Office. 12 August 2010. http://app.psd.gov.sg/data/Press%20release%20-%20Appointment%20of%20HCS%20and%20PS.pdf. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ Goh, Chin Lian (2 May 2013). "MFA Permanent Secretary Bilahari Kausikan retires". SingaPolitics. http://www.singapolitics.sg/news/mfa-permanent-secretary-bilahari-kausikan-retires. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ Chua, Tony (14 June 2012). "Capitamall Trust appoints Ng Chee Khern as Director". Singapore Business Review. http://sbr.com.sg/commercial-property/people/capitamall-trust-appoints-ng-chee-khern-director. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
- ↑ "Joseph Leong to be appointed Permanent Secretary". Channel NewsAsia. Singapore. 28 January 2019. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/joseph-leong-permanent-secretary-mindef-mci-defence-information-11175568.
The original article can be found at Security and Intelligence Division and the edit history here.