BIN plans regional offices to improve intelligence work

BIN plans regional offices to improve intelligence work

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Intelligence Agency (BIN) plans to establish
provincial representative offices across the country to increase
information gathering and coordinate operations among other
intelligence offices.

The plan, however, was received with caution from an
intelligence analyst who warned that such institutions at the
regional level would be prone to abuses by local administration
leaders.

BIN chief Lt. Gen. (ret.) A.M. Hendropriyono said on Thursday
that each respective governor would have access to those
representative offices to help prevent possible attacks in their
territories.

"We already have BIN agents across the country. These planned
regional offices will simply coordinate intelligence reports from
various intelligence offices," Hendropriyono said.

"Coordination is badly needed to strengthen intelligence
analysis to prevent any form of security disturbances in the
country."

Hendropriyono further explained that the offices would consist
of local administration officials, police, Indonesian Military
(TNI) officials and BIN agents, who would run the offices.

The retired general also said that BIN would coordinate
intelligence information and provide more accurate analysis on
security in the country for the President.

Asked when the regional offices would become operational,
Hendropriyono simply said: "Soon."

BIN is tasked by Presidential Instruction No. 5/2002 to
coordinate all intelligence activities in the country.

The instruction, issued following the Oct. 12 Bali bombing
which killed over 190 people, mostly foreigners, aims at
improving the intelligence agencies in coping with terror
threats.

With the instruction, BIN was given the authority to
coordinate all intelligence reports from the police, Indonesian
military and attorney general's office.

"On the central government level, we have already made a
gentleman's agreement among these institutions, and we need to
establish offices to coordinate intelligence operations in the
region," Hendropriyono said.

Intelligence analyst Djuanda, however, quickly warned that the
expansion of intelligence operations and offices would only
provoke public anxiety. Moreover, intelligent operations are
often not accountable to the public.

Djuanda, former intelligence adviser to then president
Abdurrahman Wahid, noted that intelligence agents were spreading
across the country. However, establishing an institution for them
would only open a door for abuses by local officials.

"Institutionalizing an intelligence community would provoke
public anxiety as lot of people would feel that they are under
surveillance," Djuanda told The Jakarta Post.

He called on more intensive public debate to ensure that the
institutionalization of the intelligence agency would not harm
the public, but rather protect the public.

He suggested that regional legislative councils should be
involved in supervising their operations.

"Regional councils have to be more active to prevent possible
abuses by the institution for the political interests of some
officials or leaders," he added.

Djuanda said that establishment of intelligence offices in the
region could secure political stability for the interest of the
current administration as well as show the international
community that the current government was serious in fighting
terrorism.

"However, civil society groups, regional councils and other
groups of concerned people must ensure that the offices do not
turn into a political vehicle of the regime to retain power," he
remarked.