Government will place stricter controls on the state`s official electronic snooping arm the National Communications Centre (NCC) and its subordinate, the Office for Interception Centres (OIC), says intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils.
Speaking during his department`s budget speech in Parliament yesterday, Kasrils detailed some of the issues that dogged the intelligence agencies in the past year, especially the domestic spy agency, the National Intelligence Agency, which culminated in the firing of its director.
"In terms of the Constitution, the intelligence services may no longer operate beyond the reach of the law. They are fully subject to the law and the jurisdiction of the courts. No one may issue an illegal order to the intelligence services, and members must disobey a manifestly illegal order," Kasrils said in his speech.
As part of the reforms being instituted in the intelligence services, the NCC "will be placed under tighter rein so that its capacity can only be used in the national interest and not, as was done, to violate even the sanctity of this Parliament by unlawfully intercepting telephone communications," he said.
Kasrils added that the OIC, which comes into effect on 1 July, in terms of the Regulations for the Interception and Monitoring of Communications Act (RICA), would be effectively run.
In terms of RICA, the OIC will oversee the law enforcement agencies` wiretapping of domestic telecommunications. These wiretaps would have to be done on the orders of a judge who will only issue a warrant once satisfied all the information has been obtained that point to making that interception necessary.
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