Overview
- The special committee formally advised the defense minister on Jan. 8 to disband the Defense Counterintelligence Command, with the ministry planning phased legal and organizational steps to finish the overhaul this year.
- Under the plan, investigative authority shifts to the Defense Ministry’s Criminal Investigation Command, while a smaller civilian-led agency would assume counterintelligence-related intelligence roles.
- Centralized military-wide background checks would be abolished, routine security audits would move to individual service branches, and limited vetting of generals would be overseen by the ministry’s inspectors.
- Practices criticized as prone to political abuse, including personnel intelligence collection and public opinion surveys, would be eliminated, with new parliamentary reporting, compliance oversight, and coordination mechanisms introduced.
- The command is accused of helping facilitate the Dec. 2024 martial law attempt; its former chief is on trial, 181 personnel were removed in December, internal probes continue, and experts warn that splitting functions could hamper rapid responses.