Chapter 2 - P rogramme 1 - Department of Defence

Overview
| Department of Defence |
CHAPTER 8
Programme 6: Defence Intelligence
The past year saw the Defence Intelligence Division
making significant contributions towards advancing
the African peace and security agenda and supporting
the Government’s peace initiatives. As the premier
intelligence organisation in South Africa, strong
cooperative relations were forged with countries
in Africa. On the home front, the Division was
pivotal in deepening the inter-agency collaboration
amongst the intelligence community, which yielded
many successes. In addition, the Division invested
considerable resources towards improving its own
intelligence capacity and preparing for future needs
by focusing on skills development. The Division’s
achievements and challenges for the year under
review are highlighted in this report.
Defence Intelligence participated in critical peace
processes in Africa. In particular, assistance
was rendered during the peace processes in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi,
Côte d’Ivoire and Sudan. Critical advice and support
were provided towards the multilateral and bilateral
efforts to promote peace and security in those
countries and on the Continent. Of note was the
request made to the SANDF by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo during the August 2007
bilateral meeting between the two countries, to
assist with the training of its armed forces, the
Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (FARDC). In line with this request, Defence
Intelligence commenced with a military intelligence
training programme in November 2007 and this is
continuing. This interaction will serve to strengthen
interoperability within the African Standby Force as
well as military-to-military relations between the two
countries.
Cooperation with African countries was strengthened
during the year under review. Defence Intelligence
undertook several cooperation visits to African
countries over the past year. These visits led to the
establishment of intelligence contact points on the
Continent that will benefit SANDF missions and
deployment into various operational theatres on
the Continent. In addition, Defence Intelligence
provided training opportunities for continental
participants. In September 2007, Defence
Intelligence presented a foreign intelligence course
at the South African Defence Intelligence College
(SADIC), which was attended by 24 participants
from 17 different countries. Furthermore, two
SADIC instructors supported the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) Intelligence
course, which was conducted in Tanzania during
September and October 2007. The instructors
provided significant subject material and were key
facilitators during the SADC course. Such activities
underscore the significant contributions made by
the SANDF towards promoting the African peace
agenda.
Within South Africa, Defence Intelligence is a
key roleplayer in the intelligence community. The
Division was part of the establishment of a Border
Integrity Intelligence Centre that has the purpose
of sharing information related to border integrity
with the relevant State departments. The Border
Integrity Intelligence Centre serves as a mechanism
to ensure the exchange of vital intelligence
between State departments to enhance territorial
security. The Division continued with general
intelligence exchange conferences, both national
and international. These exchange conferences
provided a platform for confidence building
with other intelligence services. It also provided
exposure to analysts and brought them in contact
with alternate perspectives on intelligence issues.
Defence Intelligence also contributed inputs for
amendments to the Protection of Information Act,
1982 (Act No. 84 of 1982). Relations with clients in
terms of counter-intelligence have improved due to
internal control measure changes. The collection of
information has improved during the past year in
all the collection environments to the extent that a
more reliable intelligence picture can be created with
respect to the security situation for the SANDF.
Defence Intelligence has worked closely with
the Joint Operations Division in the planning
of operations in support of other governmental
departments, especially with regards to borderline
security and major events, as well as in the updating
of the African Battle Space analysis. The African
Battle Space document provides strategic guidance
on Africa and serves as a baseline document for the
analysts, the Military Strategy as well as all strategic
155 Annual Report FY 2007 - 2008
| Chapter 8 - Programme 6: Defence Intelligence |