National Intelligence Secretariat (''Secretaría Nacional de Inteligencia'', SENAIN) was the principal

intelligence agency 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 informa ...

of the Republic of

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

. The agency was created in September 2009. Directors include Rommy Vallejo, Francisco Jijón, Homero Arellano, Luis Yépez, Raúl Patiño (brother of

Ricardo Patiño Ricardo Armando Patiño Aroca (born 16 May 1954) is an Ecuadorian politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador from 2010 until 2016, under the government of President Rafael Correa. Previously he was Minister of Financ ...

) and Pablo Romero Quezada. In June 2013, news and entertainment website ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. ...

'' published documents that revealed SENAIN's domestic surveillance program using equipment purchased from two Israel-based companies, Elkat Security Engineering Ltd and UVision Air Ltd. SENAIN reportedly purchased the equipment via an intermediary named Gabriel Marcos Guecelevich. SENAIN was also involved in the

Hacking Team HackingTeam was a Milan-based information technology company that sold offensive intrusion and surveillance capabilities to governments, law enforcement agencies and corporations. Its "''Remote Control Systems''" enable governments and corporati ...

scandal. Although

Paul Manafort Paul John Manafort Jr. (; born April 1, 1949) is an American lobbyist, political consultant, and attorney. A long-time Republican Party campaign consultant, he chaired the Trump presidential campaign from June to August 2016. Manafort served ...

had not logged into the Ecuadoran embassy in London, SENAIN had records of his visits in 2015 and March 2016, which SENAIN had recorded him as "Paul Manaford ic, along with Russians.

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army i ...

, the founder of

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

, was using the embassy as a refuge at the time. The account of an Assange-Manafort meeting was not corroborated by other news organisations. In March 2018, SENAIN was shut down by Ecuador's President,

Lenín Moreno Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garcés (; born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 46th president of Ecuador, from 2017 to 2021. Moreno was vice president from 2007 to 2013, serving under President Rafael Correa. He was nominat ...

, who said closing the agency was necessary to “guarantee the security needs of the country”.

References

External links

Official website
{{External national intelligence agencies Intelligence agencies Government of Ecuador

See also

References

External links