National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee

The National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee (NICOC) is the organisation responsible for co-ordinating the actions and activities of all of South African intelligence agencies, and collating the intelligence information received from them. It reports to Cabinet level via the Minister of State Security, and is similar to the British Joint Intelligence Committee.

Role of the Committee

The functions of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee, as outlined in the document in 2008 by the Ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence, are to:[1]

• Co-ordinate the intelligence collected by the South African intelligence services;
• Interpret the intelligence collected to identify and detect threats to South African national security;
• co-ordinate and prioritise intelligence activities within the national intelligence structures;
• prepare and interpret intelligence estimates;
• make recommendations to Cabinet on intelligence priorities.

Committee Structure[2]

The South African General Intelligence Laws Amendment Bill, 2011, sets out the structure of NICOC as:

• The Co-ordinator for Intelligence.
• The Director-General of the State Security Agency.
• The Director or Head of the domestic intelligence division known previously as the National Intelligence Agency.
• The Director or Head of the foreign intelligence division known previously as the South African Secret Service.
• The Head of the Crime Intelligence Division of the South African Police Service.
• The Chief of the South African National Defence Force Intelligence Division.
• The Director of the Financial Intelligence Centre.

Current status

On 3 September 2014, State Security Minister David Mahlobo announced that the Head of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee Dennis Dlomo, appointed to the role in 2013, has been “redeployed” to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.[3]

Co-ordinators for Intelligence

The following people have held the position of Co-ordinator since the restructure of the South African intelligence services in 1994:

• 1995 – 1996 Mo Shaik[4]: 347 
• 1996 – 2001 Linda Mti[4]: 347 
• 2001 – 2005 Jeff Maqetuka[4]: 347 
• 2005 – 2007 Barry Gilder[4]: 347 [5]
• 2007 – ???? Silumko Sokupa.[5]
• 2013 – 2014 Dennis Dlomo [6][3]
• 2015 - 2016 Dr Clinton Swemmer (PhD) (acting?)[7]
• 2016 - 2017 Dr Mike Masiapato (PhD) (acting)
• 2017 - to date Ambassador Gab Msimang

References

1. "Intelligence in a Constitutional Democracy" (PDF). Ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence. Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
3. "SSA defends Zuma's axing of spooks". Mail&Guardian. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
4. Sanders, James (2006). Apartheid's Friends. The Rise and Fall of South Africa's Secret Services. Great Britain: John Murray(Publishers). ISBN 978-0719566752.
5. "Mbeki appoints new intelligence coordinator". Mail&Guardian. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
6. "Cwele announces new appointments in intelligence". Mail&Guardian. 2 August 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
7. "'Repatriation not solution to xeno violence'". The Citizen (published 10 September 2015). ANA. 28 November 2016.

External links

• NIA pages, see "The Intelligence Community"