H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – Spy agency: comforting under one condition

May 02, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – Does Guyana need a spy agency? My answer is ‘YES’! Should Guyanese be apprehensive about the presence of one? Again, the answer is a loud YES!I take a nuts and bolts look at the pluses and minuses of involved in the presence of spy agency with national reach.

The very first thing that could be said with absolute confidence is that the operations of a national spy agency have to be secretive, a powerful entity of the stealth variety. That is, it operates under a shroud of thick darkness. Whether liked or not, the best use for, the greatest benefits to be had from, a national spy agency is when it operates underground. Should anyone encounter a spy agency operating in the open, do the favor of sharing such information, please.

GHK Lall

The concern, a major one-many of them-is that there is the usual tendency by certain kinds of leader, strong leanings by certain kinds of government, to misuse such a spy agency for the worst purposes. Among them are to get at enemies, not of the State, but of either themselves or their political grouping, as perceived. By the time that unsuspecting citizens find out what went on, a considerable amount of damage would have been inflicted, and oftentimes, irreparably so. There is no sophistication in any of this, just commonsense basics.

The challenge is how to manage seriously this contradictory reality. For notwithstanding the possibly terrible negatives embedded in a national spy agency, at the hands of unsettled governments and their vicious leaders, there is still the powerful need for such an agency, and it just must be one that operates in layers of secrecy. Part of the paradox is that its presence, when put to proper use, can be so constructive. I look at a couple of known official and covert presences that Guyanese live with currently; there could be others that are so specialized that only the deepest cover makes them viable.

There is the Special Branch within the Guyana Police Force, which is engaged in many different types of covert intelligence work, the extent of which is unknown. For it to be otherwise, is to neutralize it, render it all but useless. The Guyana Defense Force has an intelligence gathering unit, and that group’s work is also one of cloak and dagger, likely more cloak and less dagger in unsteady Guyana. Additionally, we have surveillance units utilized for different objectives (including crimefighting), and squads reserved for special operations. The latter does not qualify to be categorized as a bona fide spy agency, but there is no telling where it can be employed, even at a rudimentary level.

Considering the above, it makes for perfect sense to have a body of men and women-dedicated and trusted patriots-to oversee the coordination of the various units, squads, and such. It is constructive to have a group operating in the domestic realm, and another on foreign shores, if only to feed to and coordinate the intelligence apparatus. For preemptive protective purposes. For exclusively national security interests, and not having anything to do with partisan objectives. There is the need for such a group standing as an overseer over our entire spy network. I was living in America when the FBI, CIA, DIA, and others in that duck soup, didn’t know what the others had, or were doing. Look at what resulted.

My problem, a serious one, is the great discomfort harbored by the officializing and existence of such a national spy agency, without robust checks and balances of a nonpolitical caliber. It must have civilian control, and nothing else. Recall what we have had. Recall how the Special Branch under Burnham was unleashed on locals. Recall a crime fighting group within the Guyana Police Force, and its excesses. The true magnitude of its monstrosities is still a secret. This was not a secret unit, and Guyanese couldn’t get, and still don’t know, what went on during what was a reign of terror under the umbrella of legitimate activities on behalf of the Guyanese people. A SWAT team killed an unarmed man in his bed in Essequibo, and it took pulling fingernails and teeth from officialdom to get some slivers of understanding of what went on, and why.

Because of what went on under different governments and leaders at different times, the level of confidence is low, regarding the purposes to which a powerful and secretive national spy agency can be put. There is considerable trepidation regarding how both the PPP and PNC (or any government) can misuse such an agency to get at Guyanese. The agency reporting to the President does not comfort: too much leadership weakness, too many criminally inclined insiders. The President may mean well, but the same cannot be said of the others in his cast of close characters; just too many untrustworthy and vindictive faces. There is a crying need for civilian control, as fragile as that may be, too. At least, some of the rank politics could be filtered out.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)