| 國家安全局 Guójiā Ānquán Jú (Mandarin) Kok-ka An-choân Kio̍k (Taiwanese Hokkien) Koet-kâ Ôn-chhiòn Khiu̍k (Hakka) | |
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 Entrance of the Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 March 1955 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Republic of China (Taiwan) |
| Headquarters | Shilin,Taipei |
| Motto | 安如磐石 (As secure as a rock) |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | National Security Council |
| Website | www |
TheNational Security Bureau (NSB;Chinese:國家安全局;pinyin:Guójiā Ānquán Jú) is the principal intelligence agency ofTaiwan.
The organization was created in 1955 by a ROC Presidential Directive fromChiang Kai-shek, to supervise and coordinate all security-related administrative organizations, military agencies andKMT organizations in Taiwan. Earlier, the bureau was nicknamed "China's CIA" or "CCIA".
The first Director-General of National Security Bureau was a three-star army generalCheng Chieh-min [zh], with a background in military intelligence, who once was the deputy of the controversialBureau of Investigation and Statistics of theNational Military Council. (The "Military-Statistics Bureau" served underDai Li, and even assumed command the "Military-Statistics Bureau" after the death of Dai Li in March 1946. As a result, the National Security Bureau is often seen as one of several successors tothe Military-Statistics Bureau.)
Initially, National Security Bureau did not have its own field officers or operatives. However, in order to strengthen its ability to guide and coordinate other intelligence agencies, NSB soon developed its own field intelligence officers and training pool.
The National Security Bureau was involved in the 1980 murder of lawyer and opposition politician Lin I-hsiung and his family.[1]
On 1 January 1994, shortly after the respective organic laws of theNational Security Council and NSB were promulgated by the order of the ROC PresidentLee Teng-hui on 30 December 1993, the National Security Bureau became a legal institution.
Though a few known intelligence failures of the National Security Bureau have surfaced in recent years, supporters have pointed out that the agency rarely, if ever, publicizes any successful operations.[citation needed]
On 1 June 2000, a former NSB official[2] who was a retired one-star army general made a personal visit to thePRC and was detained three days later by the PRCMinistry of State Security.
A former chief cashier of NSB, Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), was suspected of embezzling more than NT$192 million (US$5.65 million) from money returned from the 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, forShanghai, PRC. He reappeared inBangkok in January 2002 and then went to North America. Liu remains a fugitive.[3]
In the afternoon of 19 March 2004, PresidentChen Shui-bian and Vice PresidentAnnette Lu werewounded by gunfire the day before the presidential election, while campaigning in Tainan in what would later to become known as theMarch 19 shooting incident. Afterwards, theControl Yuan impeached nine officials for dereliction of duty,[4] including former National Security Bureau (NSB) chief Tsai Chao-ming (蔡朝明) and 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 report seriously.[5]
In 2004, formerUS State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald W. Keyser was arrested by theFBI for illegally handing over documents to two Taiwanese NSB officials who served as intelligence liaison officers in USA. Immediately, the director general of the NSB, General Hsueh Shih-ming, recalled crucial intelligence agents from the United States.[6]
The loyalty of NSB officials to theDemocratic Progressive Party is constantly questioned. Traditionally, career personnel oflaw enforcement, intelligence agencies, and military organizations in Taiwan are labeled aspan-blue because most of them have been lifelongKuomintang members. However, while the DPP is in power, the National Security Bureau has been attacked by the KMT andPeople First Party for alleged abuses of power. Despite statements from several NSB Directors General on the political neutrality of the organization, some controversial events have still occurred.[citation needed]
In 2004, Chen Feng-lin (陳鳳麟), a colonel of the logistics department, Special Service Center, National Security Bureau, confessed that he leaked classified information regarding security measures at PresidentChen Shui-bian's 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.[7] 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 for leaking national secrets on TV and for potentially putting Chen's life in jeopardy.[8]
In April 2025, the NSB reported an uptick in disinformation by theChinese Communist Party compared to the previous year, including increased use of artificial intelligence.[9]
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The National Security Bureau is subordinate to theNational Security Council (NSC). Under the chain of command, the NSC is under the direct administration of the President. However, the Director-General of the National Security Bureau usually can and does report directly to the President, bypassing the NSC.
Traditionally, the successive bureau chiefs were exclusively military officers with the rank of three-star general, though this has changed in recent years. In 2003, PresidentChen Shui-bian appointedWang Ginn-wang, a former Director-General ofNational Police Agency with a career police background, to the post of NSB Deputy Director-General. In 2007,Shi Hwei-yow, a former judge from the Taipei district court, former Director-General of the Coast Guard Administration, and at the time the Deputy Director-General of NSB, replaced a three-star army general (Hsueh Shih-ming) as the first civilian Director-General of National Security Bureau.
As result of institutionalizing operations, the NSB now has six intelligence-related divisions:
The NSB has three centers:
After martial law was lifted, the NSB has also taken charge of planning special tasks, and it is responsible for guiding, coordinating, and supporting the intelligence affairs in military and civil categories:
(in Chinese)