A Secretariat to coordinate national security in Singapore

Producer: Felix Tan
First broadcast: 23 July 04, Radio Singapore International

The newly created National Security Coordination Secretariat in Singapore will give national security concerns top priority at the highest levels of government.

The National Security Coordination Centre will focus on policy coordination and planning, which will also develop programmes on risk assessment and public awareness.

The Joint Counter-Terrorism Centre will be the focal point for sharing counter-terrorism intelligence gathered by the Ministry of Defence and Home Affairs.

So what more can be expected from this new security agency?

Felix Tan put this question to Dr. Andrew Tan (AT), Assistant Professor at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore:

AT: “I think better coordination of both intelligence as well as policy, given that the person-in-charge will be located in the Prime Minister’s office itself. I think there will be much more decisive handling of policies and strategies and far better synergy between all the different strands of policy, intelligence and strategy.”

Will we see this as yet another bureaucratic hurdle to bypass?

AT: “No. I think, in fact, it improves upon the earlier set-up - right after 11th September, there were three small coordinating agencies that coordinated counter-terrorism policies as well as intelligence. What has happened now is a refinement of that set-up and there is now a centralised, coordinating person and a centralised, coordinating agency, which proves very much upon the earlier set-up.”

Can you expand on maybe why this model, this new security agency in Singapore is better than similar set ups in the United States?

AT: “Well, the United States approach has been to amalgamate a number of agencies and personnel into a ‘super-agency’. The Homeland Security Office in the United States is a huge agency with many thousands of bureaucrats and it is really is an amalgamation of many different jurisdictions and agencies. Singapore cannot follow that model because it is a small country and it is not necessary anyway. It already has a very good set-up and what it needs, though, is better coordination. So for that reason, the network approach that Singapore has undertaken - that is to a certain degree a level of decentralisation - would preserve a certain degree of flexibility and quickness in terms of reaction.”

Now, how transparent will information sharing be to, let’s say the public ?

AT: “I do not suppose that it will be shared readily at all times, but certainly, there is a need to raise public awareness of the nature of the threat and to enlist the help of the public in helping to identify potential threats and all that. I think, in that respect, the government is well-aware and the post-9-11 environment, most governments are well aware that a certain degree of sharing with the public is necessary because of the need to get the community’s involvement in counter-terrorism.”

Now, the National Security Coordination Secretariat will see coordination between Singapore’s Defence Ministry as well as the Home Affairs Ministry. But will we see more involvement of other ministries such as the Foreign Affairs Ministry?

AT: “I am sure they will be consulted from time to time. Although the Joint Intelligence Office that is reporting to this new Security person at the Prime Minister’s Office, will, I think, as the government indicated, draw together external, internal intelligence from both the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs to give a better picture.”

Now, do you see any teething problems in setting up this new National Security Coordination Secretariat then?

AT: “Well, an Australian analyst (Mr Aldo Borgu) warned against the dangers of ‘groupthink’. He says because of this process of centralisation… I suppose, so long as they guard against that and continue to allow, to a certain degree, flexibility within the coordinating set-up, I think that problem can be overcome.”

Now, will there be room for cooperation with other intelligence agencies even from around the region or even internationally?

AT: “That has already been going around for some time now. That regional and international cooperation is deemed essential and it is a priority, particularly given the trans-national nature of the terrorist threats that we are facing today.”

At the end of the day, who decides on the information that is provided?

AT: “Well, there is a single person who has been appointed at the Prime Minister’s Office to oversee this particular agency as well as Joint Intelligence. And this Permanent Secretary will be the single person who will decide on these matters. So, the model that we see here in operation is somewhat different from the centralised approach in the United States. At the same time, although it is a network in many ways, there is proper coordination through a single agency reporting to a single person who has access to the highest levels of the government.”