Italian intelligence agencies

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Logo of the Information System for the Security of the Italian Republic

Italian intelligence agencies are the

birth of the Italian Republic
in 1946 to attempt to increase effectiveness.

History

Military Information Service

The Military Information Service, known in Italian as Servizio Informazioni Militare or SIM, was founded on October 15, 1925. It originated from a military information system structure within the Italian Armed Forces. From February 6, 1927, it was placed under the direct control of the Chief of General Staff.[1] Benito Mussolini is said to have changed the leadership frequently as he did not have complete confidence in the service. The SIM was largely focused on France, Austria and Yugoslavia, and was not involved in quelling anti-fascist opposition during Mussolini's reign, which was handled by the Ministry of the Interior and the OVRA.

By January 1934, the SIM had approximately 40 people in service (in addition to informers) and a budget of around two million lire. When Mario Roatta was put in charge of the agency, the budget was doubled to around four million lira.[2]

1970s reorganization

Source:[3]

In 1974, General

Servizio Informazioni Difesa (SID), was arrested for "conspiracy against the state" after the attempted Golpe Borghese
. In 1977, a legislative act reorganized intelligence agencies under civilian control. This re-organization mainly consisted of:

Later scandals

In October 1990, Prime Minister

anti-Communist network supported by NATO
, caused another scandal.

The SISMI's chief, Nicolò Pollari, resigned in November 2006 after his indictment in the Abu Omar case, which concerned the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan in 2003. The judiciary investigation into the abduction of Abu Omar uncovered a SISMI-run black operation targeting center-left politician Romano Prodi and a domestic surveillance program involving Telecom.[4]

The SISMI was also implicated in the Niger uranium forgeries scandal, during which SISMI agents transmitted false documents to US President George W. Bush which were used as pretext in the invasion of Iraq.

In August 2007, Italian magistrates searching the SISMI's headquarters found documents proving that the intelligence agency had spied on various European magistrates between 2001 and 2006 who it considered to be carrying a "destabilization" potential. These included the

Syndicat de la magistrature French union.[5][6]

March 2007 reforms

The headquarters of the Italian intelligence agencies in Rome

In March 2007, the

center-left government of Romano Prodi created a new "information system for security" called Sistema di informazione per la sicurezza della Repubblica. It introduced far more detailed procedures with regard to state secrets, cooperation with police forces and public administrations, judicial investigation of the conduct of secret service personnel, regulating the procedure for undertaking acts normally deemed illegal, and the acquisition of secret documentation by oversight bodies or judicial authorities. The system placed intelligence agencies more closely under the Prime Minister's supervision, who is responsible for nominating directors and deputy directors of each agency.[4]

The SISDE, SISMI and CESIS were replaced with the Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI), an internal information and security agency, the Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE), a foreign intelligence and security agency, and Dipartimento delle Informazioni per la Sicurezza (DIS), a security information department.[7] The parliamentary committee overseeing the intelligence agencies (COPASIR) was granted additional oversight and control powers, with the DIS general director acting as secretary.[4]

While the intelligence agencies used to be divided between the Defense Ministry (SISMI) and the Interior Ministry (SISDE), the main division line is now between "internal" and "external" security.

Italian military's new intelligence agency, II Reparto Informazioni e Sicurezza of the Stato maggiore della difesa (RIS), is not integrated into the "information system for security",[4]
and is limited to activities of a technical military and military police nature, such as to protect armed force outposts and activities abroad.

According to

computer archives of public administrations and public utility providers, with technical means of monitoring what personal data was checked after the event."[4] Furthermore, the "intelligence services are forbidden from employing or commissioning advisory or co-operation services from elected politicians at the European, national, regional, and local level, or members of governing bodies or constitutional bodies, judges, religious ministers and journalists."[4]

The DIS opened an investigation office to verify that the activities of the various agencies respect

license to kill
, must be authorised by the Prime Minister or delegated authority, in compliance with a principle of justification for such conduct as part of an authorized operation. In cases of "absolute urgency" that do not allow the normal procedure for authorization to be followed, agency directors may authorize the activities, informing the Prime Minister and DIS "immediately", and explaining the reasons for such a course of action. According to the reforms, the principle of justification is not applicable to actions such as:

Endangering or harming life, physical integrity, individual personality, personal freedom, moral freedom, the health or safety of one or more people.

Authorized operations explicitly exclude ordinary illegal acts in the offices of

false testimony before judicial authorities, concealing evidence of a crime, or intending to mislead investigations.[4] Three to ten-year prison sentences are envisaged for officers who illegally fix the conditions under which "authorized operations" are granted.[4]

Three to ten-year prison sentences may be incurred for compiling illegal dossiers outside of the intelligence agency's objectives, with secret archives also forbidden.

Constitutional Court may not be denied access to documents on the basis of them being state secrets. The Prime Minister can lift state secrets, as well as COPASIR unanimously.[4]

List

See also

References

  1. ^ "SIUSA – Servizio informazioni militari – SIM". siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it. Retrieved 2022-09-02.
  2. ^ Military Correspondent (3 June 1943). "ITALIAN HIGH COMMAND: Roatta's Appointment". The Manchester Guardian. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "About us – Our History".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Statewatch News, "Italy – Law reforms intelligence services", URL accessed on 24 September 2007 (in English)
  5. ^ Ecco i dossier del Sismi sui generali "di sinistra", La Repubblica, 6 July 2007 (in Italian)
  6. Rue 89
    , 12 July 2007 (in French)
  7. ^ Legislative Act n.124 of 08/03/2007, reported in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series, n.187 of 08/13/2007. [1][permanent dead link‍].(in Italian)
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