Italian intelligence agencies are the

intelligence agencies An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Currently, the Italian intelligence agencies are the

Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna The Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE; Italian language, Italian: ''External Intelligence and Security Agency'') is the Espionage, foreign intelligence service of Italy. AISE was established in 2007 to replace the SISMI, Militar ...

(AISE), focusing on foreign intelligence, and the

Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna The Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna ( Italian for "Internal Intelligence and Security Agency"), commonly known as AISI, is the domestic security agency of Italy. References See also * Italian intelligence agencies *Agenzia Informazi ...

(AISI), focusing on internal security. They form part of the Department of Information for Security, which in turn is part of the

Presidency of the Council of Ministers The presidency of the Council of the European Union is responsible for the functioning of the Council of the European Union, which is the co-legislator of the EU legislature alongside the European Parliament. It rotates among the member state ...

. The agencies have been reorganized multiple times since the

birth of the Italian Republic An institutional referendum (, or ) was held by universal suffrage in the Kingdom of Italy on 2 June 1946, a key event of contemporary Italian history. Until 1946, Italy was a kingdom ruled by the House of Savoy, reigning since the unification ...

in 1946 to attempt to increase effectiveness.

History

Military Information Service

The Military Information Service, known in Italian as ''Servizio Informazioni Militare'' or SIM, was founded on October 15, 1925. It originated from a military information system structure within the

Italian Armed Forces The Italian Armed Forces (, ) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth Military branch, branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's Gendarmerie, military police an ...

. From February 6, 1927, it was placed under the direct control of the Chief of General Staff.

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

is said to have changed the leadership frequently as he did not have complete confidence in the service. The SIM was largely focused on

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

, and was not involved in quelling anti-fascist opposition during Mussolini's reign, which was handled by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

and the

OVRA The OVRA, unofficially known as the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism (), was the secret police of the Kingdom of Italy during the reign of King Victor Emmanuel III. It was founded in 1927 under the regime of Italian f ...

. By January 1934, the SIM had approximately 40 people in service (in addition to informers) and a budget of around two million lire. When

Mario Roatta Mario Roatta (2 February 1887 – 7 January 1968) was an Italian general. After serving in World War I he rose to command the Corpo Truppe Volontarie which assisted Francisco Franco's nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. He was the d ...

was put in charge of the agency, the budget was doubled to around four million lira.

1970s reorganization

Source: In 1974, General

Vito Miceli Vito Miceli (6 January 1916 – 1 December 1990) was an Italian general and politician. Biography Born in Trapani, he was a lieutenant of the Bersaglieri during the Second World War. He was chief of the SIOS, the Italian Army Intellige ...

, a former chief of ''

Servizio Informazioni Difesa (; , ) was the military intelligence intelligence agency, agency of Italy from 1977 to 2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE). ...

'' (SID), was arrested for "conspiracy against the state" after the attempted ''

Golpe Borghese The ''Golpe Borghese'' (English: Borghese Coup) was a failed Italian ''coup d'état'' allegedly planned for the night of 7 or 8 December 1970. It was named after Junio Valerio Borghese, wartime commander of the Decima Flottiglia MAS and a he ...

''. In 1977, a legislative act reorganized intelligence agencies under civilian control. This re-organization mainly consisted of: * The split of SID into two separate agencies with different roles:

SISDE Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Democratica (Intelligence and Democratic Security Service), was the domestic intelligence agency of Italy. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISDE was repl ...

(the domestic agency for the defence of democratic institutions, run by the Interior affairs ministry) and

SISMI (; , ) was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977 to 2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services approved on 1 August 2007, SISMI was replaced by Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE).Legislative Act n.12 ...

(the military secret service, run by the

Defence Ministry A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

). * The creation of

CESIS Comitato Esecutivo per i Servizi di Informazione e Sicurezza () was an Italian government committee whose mission was the coordination of all the intelligence sector, and specifically between the two civilian and military intelligence agencies (r ...

to coordinate and direct the two intelligence agencies under the authority of the

. * The creation of a

parliamentary committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

to oversee the activities of the two agencies.

Later scandals

In October 1990, Prime Minister

Giulio Andreotti Giulio Andreotti ( ; ; 14 January 1919 – 6 May 2013) was an Italian politician and wikt:statesman, statesman who served as the 41st prime minister of Italy in seven governments (1972–1973, 1976–1979, and 1989–1992), and was leader of th ...

's public revelation of the existence of

Gladio Operation Gladio was the codename for clandestine "stay-behind" operations of armed resistance that were organized by the Western Union (WU; founded in 1948), and subsequently by NATO (formed in 1949) and by the CIA (established in 1947), in c ...

, a

stay-behind A stay-behind operation is one where a country places secret operatives or organizations in its own territory, for use in case of a later enemy occupation. The stay-behind operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, and act as ...

anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

network supported by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, caused another scandal. The SISMI's chief,

Nicolò Pollari Nicolò Pollari (born 3 March 1943 in Caltanissetta) is a general of the Italy, Italian Guardia di Finanza, who was the former head of Italy's national military intelligence agency, or SISMI, from 1 October 2001 until his resignation on 20 Novembe ...

, resigned in November 2006 after his indictment in the ''

Abu Omar case The Abu Omar Case was the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. The case was picked by the international media as one of the better-documented cases of extraordinary rendition ca ...

'', which concerned the kidnapping of

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr ( ''Ḥassan Muṣṭafā Usāmah Naṣr''; born 18 March 1963), also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric. In 2003, he was living in Milan, Italy, from where he was kidnapped and tortured in Egypt. This "''Abu Omar c ...

in Milan in 2003. The judiciary investigation into the abduction of Abu Omar uncovered a SISMI-run black operation targeting center-left politician

Romano Prodi Romano Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004 and twice as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1996 to 1998, and again from 2006 to 2008. Prodi is considered the fo ...

and a domestic surveillance program involving Telecom.

Statewatch Statewatch is a UK-based charity founded in 1991 that produces and promotes critical research, policy analysis and investigative journalism to inform debates, movements and campaigns on civil liberties, human rights and democratic standards. Its w ...

News, "Italy – Law reforms intelligence services"
URL accessed on 24 September 2007
The SISMI was also implicated in the

Niger uranium forgeries The Niger uranium forgeries were forged documents initially released in 2001 by SISMI (the former military intelligence agency of Italy), which seem to depict an attempt made by Saddam Hussein in Iraq to purchase yellowcake uranium powder from ...

scandal, during which SISMI agents transmitted false documents to US President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

which were used as pretext in the

invasion of Iraq An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives ...

. In August 2007, Italian magistrates searching the SISMI's headquarters found documents proving that the intelligence agency had spied on various European magistrates between 2001 and 2006 who it considered to be carrying a "destabilization" potential. These included the Medel, a European association of magistrates, and as three French judges including Anne Crenier, a former president of the

Syndicat de la magistrature The (SM; English: Union of the Magistracy) is France's second largest magistrates' trade union in terms of membership after the more conservative Union syndicale des magistrats (USM). It was founded on 8 June 1968 in the direct aftermath of the Ma ...

French union.

March 2007 reforms

Palazzo delle Casse di Risparmio Postali 3

In March 2007, the center-left government of

created a new "information system for security" called Sistema di informazione per la sicurezza della Repubblica. It introduced far more detailed procedures with regard to state secrets, cooperation with police forces and public administrations, judicial investigation of the conduct of secret service personnel, regulating the procedure for undertaking acts normally deemed illegal, and the acquisition of secret documentation by oversight bodies or judicial authorities. The system placed intelligence agencies more closely under the Prime Minister's supervision, who is responsible for nominating directors and deputy directors of each agency. The SISDE, SISMI and CESIS were replaced with the

(AISI), an internal information and security agency, the

(AISE), a foreign intelligence and security agency, and Dipartimento delle Informazioni per la Sicurezza (DIS), a security information department.Legislative Act n.124 of 08/03/2007, reported in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series, n.187 of 08/13/2007

The parliamentary committee overseeing the intelligence agencies (

COPASIR Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic (''Comitato Parlamentare per la Sicurezza della Repubblica'', COPASIR) is a body of the Italian Parliament deputed to survey and oversee the activities of the Italian intelligence agencies. ...

) was granted additional oversight and control powers, with the DIS general director acting as secretary. While the intelligence agencies used to be divided between the Defense Ministry (SISMI) and the Interior Ministry (SISDE), the main division line is now between "internal" and "external" security. The

Italian military The Italian Armed Forces (, ) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and are also involved in mission ...

's new intelligence agency, II Reparto Informazioni e Sicurezza of the Stato maggiore della difesa (RIS), is not integrated into the "information system for security", and is limited to activities of a technical military and military police nature, such as to protect armed force outposts and activities abroad. According to

, "the law also envisages the adoption of a regulation including provisions to guarantee the information services' access to the computer archives of public administrations and public utility providers, with technical means of monitoring what

personal data Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely used in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates has fou ...

was checked after the event." Furthermore, the "intelligence services are forbidden from employing or commissioning advisory or co-operation services from elected politicians at the European, national, regional, and local level, or members of governing bodies or constitutional bodies, judges, religious ministers and journalists." The DIS opened an investigation office to verify that the activities of the various agencies respect

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

and to conduct internal investigations. The commission of illegal acts by intelligence officers, excluding license to kill, must be authorised by the Prime Minister or delegated authority, in compliance with a principle of justification for such conduct as part of an authorized operation. In cases of "absolute urgency" that do not allow the normal procedure for authorization to be followed, agency directors may authorize the activities, informing the Prime Minister and DIS "immediately", and explaining the reasons for such a course of action. According to the reforms, the principle of justification is not applicable to actions such as: Authorized operations explicitly exclude ordinary illegal acts in the offices of

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

, regional parliaments or councils,

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

offices, or against professional journalists.

Aiding and abetting Aiding and abetting is a legal doctrine related to the guilt of someone who aids or abets (encourages, incites) another person in the commission of a crime (or in another's suicide). It exists in a number of different countries and generally al ...

is allowed, except for cases involving

false testimony Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

before judicial authorities, concealing evidence of a crime, or intending to mislead investigations. Three to ten-year prison sentences are envisaged for officers who illegally fix the conditions under which "authorized operations" are granted. Three to ten-year prison sentences may be incurred for compiling illegal dossiers outside of the intelligence agency's objectives, with secret archives also forbidden. State secret status may cover documents, news, activities or any other thing. Declaring an object a state secret falls under the prerogative of the Prime Minister, who may do so for fifteen years, renewable to thirty. It may not be applied to activities involving

subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of Power (philosophy), power, authority, tradition, h ...

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

or to attacks aimed at causing deaths. The

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

may not be denied access to documents on the basis of them being state secrets. The Prime Minister can lift state secrets, as well as

unanimously.

List

* Dipartimento delle Informazioni per la Sicurezza (DIS, Department of Intelligence for the Security) *

(AISE, external intelligence and security agency) *

(AISI, internal intelligence and security agency) * II Reparto Informazioni e Sicurezza of the Stato maggiore della difesa (The department of intelligence and security)

References

External links

Sistema di informazione per la sicurezza della Repubblica e nuova disciplina del segreto

{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Intelligence Agencies Intelligence communities