Italian intelligence agencies are theintelligence agencies ofItaly. Currently, the Italian intelligence agencies are theAgenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE), focusing on foreign intelligence, and theAgenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI), focusing on internal security. They form part of theDepartment of Information for Security, which in turn is part of thePresidency of the Council of Ministers. The agencies have been reorganized multiple times since thebirth of the Italian Republic in 1946 to attempt to increase effectiveness.
TheMilitary Information Service, known in Italian asServizio Informazioni Militare or SIM, was founded on October 15, 1925. It originated from a military information system structure within theItalian Armed Forces. From February 6, 1927, it was placed under the direct control of the Chief of General Staff.[1]Benito Mussolini is said to have changed the leadership frequently as he did not have complete confidence in the service. The SIM was largely focused onFrance,Austria andYugoslavia, and was not involved in quellinganti-fascist opposition during Mussolini's reign, which was handled by theMinistry of the Interior and theOVRA.
By January 1934, the SIM had approximately 40 people in service (in addition to informers) and a budget of around two millionlire. WhenMario Roatta was put in charge of the agency, the budget was doubled to around four million lira.[2]
Source:[3]
In 1974, GeneralVito Miceli, a former chief ofServizio Informazioni Difesa (SID), was arrested for "conspiracy against the state" after the attemptedGolpe Borghese. In 1977, a legislative act reorganized intelligence agencies under civilian control. This re-organization mainly consisted of:
In October 1990, Prime MinisterGiulio Andreotti's public revelation of the existence ofGladio, astay-behindanti-Communist network supported byNATO, caused another scandal.
The SISMI's chief,Nicolò Pollari, resigned in November 2006 after his indictment in theAbu Omar case, which concerned the kidnapping ofHassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan in 2003. The judiciary investigation into the abduction of Abu Omar uncovered a SISMI-run black operation targeting center-left politicianRomano Prodi and adomestic surveillance program involving Telecom.[4]
The SISMI was also implicated in theNiger uranium forgeries scandal, during which SISMI agents transmitted false documents to US PresidentGeorge W. Bush which were used as pretext in theinvasion of Iraq.
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 theMedel, a European association of magistrates, and as three French judges including Anne Crenier, a former president of theSyndicat de la magistrature French union.[5][6]
In March 2007, thecenter-left government ofRomano Prodi 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.[4]
The SISDE, SISMI and CESIS were replaced with theAgenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI), an internal information and security agency, theAgenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Esterna (AISE), a foreign intelligence and security agency, andDipartimento delle Informazioni per la Sicurezza (DIS), a security information department.[7] The parliamentary committee overseeing the intelligence agencies (COPASIR) was granted additional oversight and control powers, with the DIS general director acting as secretary.[4]
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.[4] TheItalian military'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",[4] and is limited to activities of a technical military and military police nature, such as to protect armed force outposts and activities abroad.
According toStatewatch, "the law also envisages the adoption of a regulation including provisions to guarantee the information services' access to thecomputer archives of public administrations and public utility providers, with technical means of monitoring whatpersonal data was checked after the event."[4] 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."[4]
The DIS opened an investigation office to verify that the activities of the various agencies respectrule of law and to conduct internal investigations.[4] The commission of illegal acts by intelligence officers, excludinglicense 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:
Endangering or harming life, physical integrity, individual personality, personal freedom, moral freedom, the health or safety of one or more people.
Authorized operations explicitly exclude ordinary illegal acts in the offices ofpolitical parties, regional parliaments or councils,trade union offices, or against professional journalists.[4]Aiding and abetting is allowed, except for cases involvingfalse testimony before judicial authorities, concealing evidence of a crime, or intending to mislead investigations.[4] Three to ten-year prison sentences are envisaged for officers who illegally fix the conditions under which "authorized operations" are granted.[4]
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 involvingsubversion,terrorism or to attacks aimed at causing deaths.[4] TheConstitutional Court may not be denied access to documents on the basis of them being state secrets. The Prime Minister can lift state secrets, as well asCOPASIR unanimously.[4]
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