(by Andrea Pinto) The newspaper's anticipation of the presumed reform of our secret services was also discussed today by Il Giornale. The current information system for the security of the Republic was established with Law 124/2007, which had already reformed the national intelligence sector at the time (Prodi Government).
Today in Italy operational intelligence is entrusted to two agencies (AISI e AISE) coordinated by a Department, the DIS - Department of Security Information - which is the body used by the President of the Council of Ministers and the delegated Authority for the exercise of their functions and for ensure unity in the programming of information research, in the analysis and in the operational activities of AISE and AISI.
THEAISI (Information and Internal Security Agency) has the task of researching and processing all the information useful for defending the internal security of the Republic and the democratic institutions from any threat, any subversive activity and any form of criminal or terrorist aggression.
THEAISE (Information and External Security Agency) has the task of researching and processing all information useful for defending the independence, integrity and security of the Republic from threats from abroad.
Apparently the prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the Delegated Authority, the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, they would be thinking of merging the two agencies because they are considered complementary and often competitive. The functions of the DIS are also under discussion, which today should coordinate the two agencies at 360°, but in fact, according to the arguments of Il Giornale, would not be able to have a actual "grip" on them.
What is certain is that the union of the two agencies presupposes the creation of a single top figure, a sort of new emperor of 007. In this regard, among the experts, many doubts arise in wanting to concentrate so much power in a single person because the "Divide and conquer" it is more functional in such a delicate sector.
As Il Giornale writes, what precisely the reasoning behind the Meloni project is not officially known, on the other hand, there was no trace of an intelligence reform in the center-right government program. But the affairs of our security agencies have always been in the attention of the prime minister, well before her arrival at Palazzo Chigi. And, according to what is understood, once she arrived at the government, in direct contact with the reality of the structure, Meloni had to realize what among the insiders had been the subject of criticism and complaints for some time: just as she was designed by the latest reform, launched in 2007 by the Prodi government also following the story of the Abu Omar kidnapping, the division of tasks between Aisi and Aise is so vague as to be inapplicable, and to generate continuous overlapping, bungling, jealousy.
The overlaps between the activities of the two agencies also occur under the eyes of the allied secret services, which find themselves faced with two interlocutors who often say different things. The consequences, on more than one occasion, have reached and exceeded the threshold of ridicule. Episodes that came out when Meloni and Mantovano settled in Palazzo Chigi.
The premier would therefore like to put his hand to the entire national security organization chart in the light of the new global challenges that make intelligence no longer divisible into internal and external functions because often operational activities must necessarily be carried out in both environments.
However, to avoid the eventuality of concentrating all the activities in a single head with the union of the two agencies, one would be thinking of another solution: to leave AISI and AISE, however greatly strengthening the powers of the DIS which should assume coordination functions fully operational, with the two agencies reporting directly to it.
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