The State Intelligence Service (SIS) is an

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

of the

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. It is the primary civilian intelligence agency of Sri Lanka and is responsible for both internal and external intelligence-gathering. It comes under the purview of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. The agency was originally named National Intelligence Bureau.

Role

SIS is responsible for the collection of intelligence about threats from internal and external sources to be used in the formulation of government policies and strategies. The duties carried out by the SIS are mainly categorised into, # Collection and analysis of information. # Conducting undercover investigations. # Conduct background checks on applicants recruited to sensitive institutions including the Armed Forces, Police and other selected state institutions. # Issue threat assessment reports on VVIP and VIP security and governmental affairs. # Conducting training programs for other institutions. # Maintaining foreign relations on national security issues

Organisation

The SIS is part of the Ministry of Defence and is separate from the

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

intelligence but its staff consists of those from both police and military backgrounds. The SIS is led by a director general, traditionally from the Police but this was broken in 2019.

History

Until 1984, the

Sri Lanka Police Sri Lanka Police (; ) is the civilian national police force of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The police force is responsible for enforcing criminal and traffic law, enhancing public safety, maintaining order and keeping the p ...

were responsible for internal intelligence functions, first under the Special Branch, and later under the Intelligence Services Division. The perceived failure of the Intelligence Services Division during the riots of July 1983 led the Junius Jayawardene Government to re-evaluate the nation's intelligence network, and in 1984 the President set up a National Intelligence Bureau. The new organisation combined intelligence units from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police. It was renamed the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2006.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

(LTTE) agents successfully infiltrated Sri Lankan government and military organisations resulting in the assassinations of several high-ranking military personnel, including Major

Tuan Muthaliff Colonel Tuan Nizam Muthaliff, RWP, MI (July 12, 1966 – May 31, 2005) was a Sri Lanka Army officer and intelligence officer who, while serving as the commanding officer, 1 Military Intelligence Corps, was assassinated by the Liberation Tig ...

and Colonel Tuan Meedin both of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, putting Sri Lankan intelligence services in a desperate condition. Under the Defence Secretary

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, (; ; born 20 June 1949) was a Sri Lankan politician and military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his Resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resignation on 14 July 202 ...

the intelligence agencies that were in desperate condition built-up a cohesive apparatus, which achieved significant success, including anti-LTTE operations overseas and the SIS played a huge role in the Fourth Ealam war. The SIS was involved in the dismantling of the large number of long-term sleeper cells planted by the LTTE in cities, helping Police track down criminals who were helping the LTTE for financial gain. In January 2015 the director of the SIS, Chandra Wakista, resigned following the presidential election, amid allegations of phone tapping of opposition politicians. In March Nilantha Jayawardena was appointed as the SIS director. In December 2019 the newly elected president

Gotabaya Rajapaksa Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, (; ; born 20 June 1949) was a Sri Lankan politician and military officer who served as the eighth President of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his Resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, resignation on 14 July 202 ...

appointed Brigadier Suresh Sallay, the former head of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, as the head of SIS. Sallay is the first director of the SIS to come from Military Intelligence instead of the Police.

Directorates

* Directorate of Internal Intelligence * Directorate of Foreign Intelligence

Operations

Kumaran Pathmanathan aka KP, who was involved in arms procurement for

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

, was captured in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and moved to

via

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

by this Agency. Recently some former LTTE members were captured from Southeast Asian countries and moved to Sri Lanka by State Intelligence Service and

Military Intelligence Corps (Sri Lanka) The Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) is one of the corps of the Sri Lanka Army. It is responsible for clandestine and covert operations to gathering military intelligence, counter-intelligence, cyberwarfare, HUMINT, intelligence assessment, IST ...

Sri Lanka Army The Sri Lanka Army (; ) is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back in 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; ...

together.

References

External links

Overview of the Minister of Defence
{{authority control Sri Lankan intelligence agencies Government agencies of Sri Lanka