GUYANA GETS ITS OWN CIA

Feb 22, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Yesterday, the need for a new intelligence-gathering agency was discussed. It was argued then that the failures of established security agencies over the past years justify the need for a complete overall of the nation’s intelligence infrastructure and thus the creation of a central intelligence agency.
There are of course other sound reasons why such an agency must be created now. We live in a different era, one in which crime is not just domestic but also, just like the powerful western corporations of the past, is transnational in scope. Guyana therefore has to equip itself to deal not just with local drug lords and con men, not just with those who rape public treasuries and siphon off billions of public funds for their own use and that of their friends, but also the links that certain criminal enterprises have with other underworld conglomerates.
To fight this menace using our existing resources is like trying to douse a forest fire with a fire extinguisher. It simply will not work. Guyana has to overhaul its entire intelligence-gathering network to deal with these threats.
It also has to be mindful of its international obligations, most of which we often do not have any say in. When the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, this set in train drastic changes at airports. Guyana was forced to implement tighter screening of baggage and passengers. It was forced to follow the world in placing restriction on the carrying of certain types of implements onto the airplane.
And when it was later revealed that there was a plan to blow up some airplanes using liquids, these too were added to the restrictions implemented at airports.
Great deals of narcotics leave Guyana for western markets. Guyana is seen as a major transshipment point. And while there have been busts and co-operation with foreign governments leading to busts, the foreign countries to which these drugs are destined are going to be concerned that enough is not being done locally.
What we are therefore witnessing in the establishment of a central intelligence agency is a prelude to the arrival of the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States. This is just a matter of time, for despite the security reservations of the Americans in stationing agents in this country, the Americans know that if they are to get on top of the narco-trade in which Guyana is a transshipment point for large cartels from South America, an agency will have to be established on these shores.
The central intelligence agency which the government has established is expected to be a forerunner to the eventual establishment of this agency. Since all major social initiatives in Guyana are always accompanied by foreign grants or loans, the Guyanese government is expected, in typical mendicant fashion, to ask the Americans for assistance for this new agency and the Americans will obviously say yes since it will be able to gain a foothold into the work of this agency and conscript it into the fight against drug trafficking which is what the Americans are really interested in.
Global terrorism is also a major threat for the Americans. In many places they have the terrorists on the run. The terrorists will therefore most likely look to other neutral countries as havens for their training and as a base for recruiting terrorists. The Americans already have Guyana on their radar following the arrests of Guyanese on a bizarre and still, for many, an unbelievable plot to blow up the fuel tanks at the JFK Airport. The Americans therefore will wish to dig in to Guyana and keep a close eye on extremist activities, and thus the central intelligence agency can be a useful ally to the Americans in gathering intelligence on what is going on.
The main opposition is concerned however that the intelligence agency to be formed can be used for political purposes. Well this is nothing new to Guyana because when the very opposition was in power, not only were the intelligence arms involved in political espionage against the opponents of the then opposition, but it was difficult to separate the government from the ruling party.
The main opposition however should be more worried about this central intelligence agency being undermined by the very persons against whom it is supposed to spy. We must recall that a person “renditioned” to the United States on drug trafficking charges was actually successful in bugging the phone of a senior police officer.
So the threat should not really be about the risk of the new agency spying on the opposition but rather whether the Guyana version of the CIA can avoid being spied upon.

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