Intelligence failure

The bombings in Bali last weekend shocked a nation still coming to terms with the 2002 terrorist attack on the island. And the resort island itself was only beginning to recover economically from the 2002 bombings when tragedy struck again.

Saturday night's bombings not only caused loss of life, but also the loss of livelihood for many Balinese. The tragedy was also a blow to a country still reeling from the government's announcement, just hours earlier, of record fuel price increases.

In the immediate aftermath of the bombings, the finger of blame was pointed at intelligence bodies and the police for failing to prevent the attack. This "failure" was highlighted by the fact that there were prior warnings, of a sort. Even President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned in August of potential terrorist attacks in the coming months.

It is certainly not encouraging that despite claims by the authorities to have clamped down on terrorist groups here, limiting their ability to operate in the country, the modus operandi of Saturday's attack was similar to the bombings in 2002 and subsequent blasts.

Since this latest terrorist outrage there has been much debate about the effectiveness of our intelligence bodies. One thing, though, that most people can agree on is the need for fundamental reforms within the intelligence community.

Indonesia has four national-level intelligence units -- the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), which coordinates all intelligence operations in the country, the Military Strategic Intelligence Agency, the Police Intelligence Unit and an intelligence unit connected to the Attorney General's Office.

There are also numerous regional-level intelligence units connected with the military and the police, as well as other departments.

Current regulations make it difficult for BIN to coordinate the gathering of information among the varied elements of the intelligence community.

At the center of the debate over the effectiveness of our intelligence bodies is the prolonged deliberation of a draft law on intelligence. Both the government and civil groups have put forward alternative drafts for the House of Representatives to deliberate.

Among the most contentious points in the draft submitted by the government -- drafted by BIN, through the Ministry of Defense -- is the expansion of BIN's powers, including granting it the power to arrest people, based on "strong suspicions", believed to be involved in activities that could threaten national security.

Lawmakers and rights activists have expressed concern that granting intelligence units such authority could lead to rights abuses like those that occurred during the authoritarian New Order regime of Soeharto, when government critics were frequently arrested to silence them.

Important as the deliberations of the draft intelligence law are, it is imperative that the intelligence community not get caught up in the debate, but instead focus all of its attention on its primary task, which is gathering intelligence.

Intelligence agencies could also help themselves by employing more sophisticated methods to gather information, rather than simply relying on the kind of physical presence that caused so much trauma in the past.

James Bamford, in his book Body of Secrets, describes how intelligence agencies in the U.S. use sophisticated equipment to eavesdrop on targets from afar.

Another lesson that can be drawn upon by authorities restructuring our intelligence community is the reorganization of the U.S. intelligence services following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in that country.

Based on the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, the U.S. government created the office of the National Intelligence Director, whose function is to coordinate all of the activities of the U.S. intelligence community.

The National Intelligence Director, who has greater political leverage than the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is directly responsible to the president.

Let us not also forget the established intelligence practices applied in democratic countries.

In the meantime, it is vital that our intelligence community work together to identify and arrest all those involved in Saturday's Bali bombings.

Forget all the debate and arguments; the explosions on Saturday marked a security and intelligence failure. Any more failures during the investigation into the attack would demand that somebody be held accountable, which could very well mean the resignations of the BIN chief and the National Police chief.