National Security Bureau
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The National Security Bureau(NSB) is the principal intelligence agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan), including military intelligence.
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[edit] History
The organization was created in 1955 by a ROC Presidential Directive from Chiang Kai-shek, to supervise and coordinate all security-related administrative organizations, military agencies and KMT organizations in Taiwan. Earlier, the bureau was nicknamed "Taiwan's KGB" or "TKGB".
In the beginning, NSB did not have its own field officers or operatives. However, in order to strengthen its ability to guide and coordinate other intelligence agencies, soon NSB developed its field intelligence officers and its own training pool.
[edit] Legalization
On 1 January 1994, shortly after the respective organic laws of the National Security Council and NSB were promulgated by the order of the ROC President Lee Teng-hui on 30 December 1993, the National Security Bureau became a legal institution.
[edit] Recent Events
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Some infamous failures of NSB caused some criticism. However, it is important to understand that in the art of intelligence only the failure may be known but the success must remain unknown.
On 1 June 2000, a former NSB official[1] who is a retired one-star army general made a personal visit to PRC and was detained three days later by Ministry of State Security, PRC.
A former chief cashier of NSB, Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), is suspected of embezzling more than NT$192 million (US$5.65 million) from a batch of money returned from Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 4 April 1999. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of Justice, Liu left the country on 3 September 2000, for Shanghai, PRC. He reappeared in Bangkok in January 2002 and then went to North America. Liu is still on the run[2].
On the afternoon of 19 March 2004, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) were wounded by gunfire on the day before the presidential election, while they were campaigning in the streets of Tainan City. This failed assassination attempt caused shocks in Taiwan, including a serious personnel review in the community of intelligence and security. Nine officials were impeached for dereliction of duty by the Control Yuan[3]. Among those were former National Security Bureau (NSB) chief Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明), former deputy chief of the NSB special service center Chiu Chung-nan (邱忠男). The Control Yuan said in an impeachment report that the National Security Bureau had received information on 18 March 2004 about a possible attack on the president, but did not take the intelligence seriously[4].
In 2004, former US State Department deputy assistant secretary Keyser has been arrested by the FBI for illegally handing over documents to two Taiwanese NSB officials who served as intelligence liaison officers in USA. Immediately, the director general of NSB, General Hsueh Shih-ming (薛石民), had recalled crucial intelligence agents from the United States[5].
The loyality of NSB officials to the DPP administration are constantly questioned. Traditionally, career personnel of law enforcement, intelligence agencies, military organizations in Taiwan are labeled as pro-KMT or pan-blue because many of them have been life-long KMT memebers. However, NSB has been attacked by the opposition parties, including KMT and PFP, for power abuse under the connivence of the DPP administration. Despite of the best effort from several Director Generals of NSB to stay neutral, some dubious events always happen.
In 2004, a Colonel Chen Feng-lin (陳鳳麟) of the National Sceurity Bureau's Special Service Center's logistics department confessed[6] that he leaked classified information regarding security measures at President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) residence as well as the president's itinerary to Peng Tzu-wen (彭子文), a former director of the center who retired as a major general. Peng, a retired one-star general, revealed on TV that he would not "take a bullet for President Chen." In August 2005, Peng Tzu-wen was indicted[7] for leaking national secrets on TV and for potentially putting President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) life in jeopardy.
- ^ Hsu, Brian. "Ting will stay despite NSB upheaval", Taipei Times, Monday, Jul 24, 2000, p. 3.
- ^ Yiu, Cody. "Court clears Hsu of embezzling secret diplomatic fund", Taipei Times, Tuesday, Sep 28, 2004, p. 1.
- ^ Wu, Debby. "Security chiefs impeached for `failures' on March 19", Taipei Times, Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004, p. 3.
- ^ Wu, Debby. "NSB alerted to attack on Chen: report", Taipei Times, Thursday, Jul 08, 2004, p. 1.
- ^ Lin, Chieh-yu. "Officials pull spy team from US", Taipei Times, Sunday, Sep 19, 2004, p. 3.
- ^ Chuang, Jimmy. "Presidential Office leak discovered", Taipei Times, Thursday, Sep 09, 2004, p. 1.
- ^ STAFF WRITER. "Former top security chief reprimanded in court by judge", Taipei Times, Saturday, Oct 22, 2005, p. 2.
[edit] Structure
[edit] Field Division
As result of institutionalizing operations, the NSB now has six intelligence-related divisions --
- international intelligence,
- intelligence within the area of People's Republic of China,
- intelligence within the area of Taiwan,
- analysis of the nation's strategic intelligence,
- scientific and technological intelligence and telecommunications security,
- control and development of secret codes and facilities.
[edit] Center
Also, there are three centers:
- Special Service Command Center: Presidential Security and Protection.
- Telecommunication Technology Center
- Training Center
[edit] Oversight
This is also a special feature of the NSB since martial law was lifted. In addition to managing intelligence relevant to national security, it also takes charge of planning special tasks and is responsible for guiding, coordinating, and supporting the intelligence affairs in military and civil categories:
[edit] Military
- The Military Intelligence Bureau, General Staff Headquarters, Ministry of National Defense (MND)
- Office of Telecommunication Development, General Staff Headquarters, MND
- The security division of General Political Warfare Bureau, MND
- The Military Police Command, MND
[edit] Civil
- The National Police Agency of the Interior Ministry
- The National Immigration Agency of the Interior Ministry
- The National Investigation Bureau of the Justice Ministry
- The Coast Guard Administration of Executive Yuan.
[edit] Chiefs
Traditionally, the successive bureau chiefs were exclusively military officer in the rank of a three-star general. In 2003, President Chen Shui-bian appointed a Vice Director General of NSB with pure-police background.
