Johannesburg — SA Neds to monitor the growing number of private intelligence agencies whose effect was highlighted by the controversial Special Browse Mole Consolidated Report, says a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).

Lauren Hutton, of the ISS's security governance project, said there was a need to regulate these agencies in the same way that private security companies had to operate within laws. The Browse Mole r eport linked Libya and Angola's intelligence establishment to alleged planned covert support for former deputy president Jacob Zuma's bid for the presidency. However, the report was dismissed by the government, which claimed its sources were mainly former members of intelligence networks offering information services to private businesses in SA and abroad, as well as to foreign intelligence entities.

The report demonstrated the susceptibility of intelligence services to manipulation, especially in the run-up to the African National Congress (ANC) conference next month, Hutton said in an interview last week after presenting a paper analysing intelligence governance in SA. Hutton said political realities in SA pointed to the need to review the mandate of intelligence services, especially the National Intelligence Agency's (NIA's) authorisation to conduct domestic political intelligence operations.

"Whereas the US intelligence services are often criticised for their lack of co-ordination, the South African intelligence agencies are ultimately condemned by their failure to break away from internal personal or group political interest," she said. Hutton said private intelligence agencies resulted mainly from foreign multinationals requiring risk assessments before finalising investment decisions. The sector appeared to be growing even though its size in SA had not been fully established. "It's an international trend and we have to watch how it's going to affect us," Hutton said.

In the US, the 16 security agencies increasingly subcontracted intelligence functions to private operators, she said. Potential challenges presented by this sector were the duplication of functions also provided by state agencies, together with questions of co- ordination and accountability. In her presentation, Hutton highlighted the need for civil society involvement in monitoring intelligence services.

"There has never been open debate on the intelligence sector in SA," she said. Civil society's engagement had remained minimal in intelligence services yet the sector had great potential to impinge on civil liberties. The more insecure the state, the more it relied on intelligence services. Apart from the Browse Mole saga, SA's intelligence services had been implicated in two intelligence-related scandals in democratic SA.

In 1998 then defence force chief Georg Meiring implicated senior Umkontho we Sizwe officers in an alleged plot against then president Nelson Mandela. The unfounded allegations led to Meiring's enforced exit. The second incident, in 2005, involved former NIA head Billy Masetlha, and pertained to the illegal alleged spying on prominent ANC member and businessman Saki Macozoma.

Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils last year set up a commission to "strengthen mechanisms of control of civilian intelligence structures" while minimising the potential for illegal conduct and abuse of power. Despite a call for submissions, only a few organisations -- including the ISS and the South Africa National Editors' Forum -- had sent in their views to date.

Hutton said it was believed Kasrils would launch a public debate initiative next year.