Intelligence and Security Organization (Kingdom of Italy)

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The Intelligence and Security Organization (Italian: Organizzazione per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza, O.I.S.) is the controversial wing and intelligence agency of the Italian police military corps (mainly Royal Carabinieri).

The Italian police military corps are military, multi-mission, uniformed services of the Kingdom of Italy; their core roles are to protect the public security, the public order, the respect of the law and Italian economic and security interests in any part of the national territory. To assist in accomplishing the many diverse missions of the police military corps, senior leadership and operational commanders rely on the Intelligence and Security Organization.

The Intelligence and Security Organization yearly produces an average 1 milion reports; a significant part of these reports is provided to P.N.F. and M.V.S.N.

History

Before and during the Years of Lead, the then-Republican Police Corps’s intelligence gathering activities were conducted by uniformed officers working with local units; in the wake of the 1981 security sector reform, the overt intelligence gathering was deemed insufficient, and therefore the political leadership of that time took the decision to establish specialized units who would not only gather intelligence but also use it to conduct covert counter-terrorism operations, also for deteriorating political situation.

The gendarmerie forces have thus enjoyed a somewhat ambivalent status, feeling closer to the regular military than the public security apparatus, but under the complete control of neither the Ministry of Interior nor the Defence Staff. As a result, when the Gendarmerie began to establish a counter-terrorism capability, it was able to run covert operations virtually free of any oversight.

In 1985, Carabinieri Brigade General Alberto Dalla Chiesa founded the Intelligence Group Command (Comando Gruppo Informazioni e Sicurezza – Comando GRUPINFOSEC), which in 1991 became known as Intelligence and Security Organization.

Intelligence and Security Organization came into existence in 1991 by the assignment of a "Information and Security Commander" to the General-Inspector of the Militarized Police Corps. The Information and Security Commander was merged with the Unit II - Operations and Security chief. The Information and Security Commander's duties consist in securing of information which is essential to police military corps, in the dissemination of this information to responsible officers, operating units, the Administration of Public Security and other collaborating agencies.

Role

The Intelligence and Security Organization is the unified and Carabinieri-dominated intelligence agency of the police military corps. The organization has been established in order to provide a joint point of contact for both military and police matters. While the O.I.S. is a military intelligence agency, it also is a counterpart of Division II - Confidential Affairs of the Administration of Public Security and the situation information branch of the Military Information Service for military corps tasked with police duties.
Alongside acting as the military intelligence apparatus of the police corps and conducting counterintelligence operations, it is responsible for internal security and surveillance work involving police military personnel.
The Intelligence and Security Organization, also within the wider intelligence community, plays the role of a permanent and structured link between political and military counter-espionage, as it is impossible for military leaders to have no relationship with the various political police realities and not to execute special instructions issued by political authorities with military duties or positions. There is a threefold logic underlying domestic intelligence: a classic logic of intelligence turned toward the interior of the national space (addressed to by the O.V.R.A. Internal Situation Division of the First Central Directorate); a police logic (i.e. intelligence activities being part of the policeman’s work) and a judicial logic. Because hostile acts detected by the intelligence service are likely to be qualified as crimes and offences, they are normally intended to be transmitted to justice. In particular, domestic intelligence consists of collecting, analyzing, and producing intelligence related to the security of the state.
These missions include uncovering and countering terrorism, espionage, sabotage, subversion, political, ethnic and religious dissent and extremism, organised crime, narcotics production and trafficking, money counterfeiting and laundering, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illegal arms dealing, arms, human, contraband and other smuggling, unauthorised immigration, electronic and cyber attacks, hacking and data theft, and dissemination of pornography, etc. Missions other than counterrorism (shared by all Italian domestic intelligence bodies) are primarily assigned to one or another intelligence service. In order to deal with terrorism, Italy has a nuanced, unified, and intelligent counterterrorism response. In this response, police forces and intelligence services play a crucial role in domestic intelligence, the security of populations, and threat prevention.
The role of law enforcement in intelligence encompasses criminal intelligence, counter intelligence, and countering terrorism. With the development of the terrorist threat, police forces play fully their role in domestic intelligence. In particular, the mission of law enforcement intelligence is to prevent or mitigate crimes, threats and attacks from reaching fruition. This mission requires certain knowledge to be available to law enforcement — such as information on the criminal actors along with their motives, methods and targets. Owing to the proximity of law enforcement and local populations, law enforcement can have broad access to a large network of human intelligence.

Mission

The primary mission of the Intelligence and Security Organization is to provide timely, relevant, and accurate intelligence support to operational and strategic-level commanders. The Intelligence and Security Organization produces intelligence both for Army use and for sharing across the national intelligence community. In particular, the Intelligence and Security Organization is tasked with detecting, following, stopping, suppressing and intercepting threats. These tasks are:

  • Counterintelligence on behalf of police military corps;
  • Military police support to CC.RR.;
    • Detection and elimination of political sabotage;
    • Detection and elimination of political subversion;
  • Support to police intelligence (both political and criminal);
    • Intelligence for custom research, fight against smuggling and illicit trafficking;
    • Protection of police from counter-surveillance from subversive and criminal elements;
  • Support to Military Information Service.

Military counter-espionage is carried out by the Military Information Service and, as an auxiliary body, by the Intelligence and Security Organization itself; military police activity is carried out by Royal Carabinieri and by the G.N.R. and, as auxiliary bodies, by the other military police corps (Coast Guard, C.P.R., R.G.d.F.). The collaboration body for both military counter-espionage and military police is the Public Security Administration (internal security, counter-controversy and counter-information).
During wartime, the Intelligence and Security Organization is concerned with internal and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence, including military police support to Military Information Service, G.N.R. and CC.RR. The Intelligence and Security Organization also protects the police military corps from foreign agents who might attempt to penetrate their ranks or compromise their operations, through shielding operations, personnel, systems, facilities and information from the activities of hostile threats.

Interests and relations

The main threats and areas of interest of the Intelligence and Security Organization are:

  • Intelligence and other activities of foreign services, organizations and persons which are directed against the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Defence and all Italian armed corps;
  • Internal and international terrorism;
  • Subversive activities;
  • Criminal acts directed against the State;
  • Capital offences;
  • Mafia and other forms of organized crime.

The O.I.S. therefore corresponds with a variety of other organization, making it a central piece of the Intelligence Community of the Kingdom of Italy and of the wider security establishment. Together with the Information Service of the Royal Guard of Finance, it forms the intelligence network devoted to police and law enforcement tasks, which is focused around the C.P.R./P.S.-dominated Division II - Confidential Affairs. The police network is completed by the Political Police Division, which acts as an information hub, and by the General Affairs Division, which directly supports the Chief of Police.

For mafia-related criminal acts, and related information, when the judicial police activity is needed or when the O.I.S. possesses useful information for judicial investigations, the Intelligence and Security Organization corresponds with the Central Anti-Mafia Investigative Directorate of the Central Security Office. In case the information is related to drugs trafficking, the correspondence is with the Central Anti-drugs Directorate of the U.C.S.

For all criminal, non-political offences which are not related to mafia, when the judicial police activity is needed or when the O.I.S. possesses useful information for judicial investigations, the Intelligence and Security Organization corresponds with the Central Operational Section and, preferably, with the Special Operational Group.

For political offences and subversive plots and acts, the O.I.S. corresponds with the O.V.R.A.'s Second Central Directorate; when the information is needed for trial purposes, it also informs the Public Security's Confidential Affairs Division, which in turn routes it towards the appropriate target. For public order affairs, the O.I.S. corresponds with Section III - Public Order of the General Affairs Division.

For military security affairs, it corresponds with the Plans and Military Police Office and with the Military Intelligence Service, which in turn operates in touch with the O.V.R.A.'s Third Central Directorate.

Structure

The Intelligence and Security Organization has a centralized structure consisting of a Central Logistics Support Group, a Central Office and peripheral detachments at every Joint Regional Command (C.P.R. Area Inspectorates and CC.RR. Legions). Directly dependent on the O.I.S. commander, the Intelligence and Security Organization operates the Central Office, the S.I.M. Military Police Group and the Security Group.

The O.I.S. Commander is either a Division General of the Royal Carabinieri or a Division Admiral of the Coast Guard; the Deputy Commander is either a Brigade General of the Royal Carabinieri (if the Commander comes from the Coast Guard) or a Rear-Admiral of the Coast Guard (if the Commander comes from the Royal Carabinieri).

Central Logistics Support Group

Commanded by a senior officer of the Italian police military corps, in active service situation, assists the Head of the Intelligence and Security Organization in matters of personnel, specific material, informative support, doctrine of the Organization and coordination and control of dissemination.

Central Office

The Central Office consists in turn in eight Departments tasked with providing unified analysis to other agencies; it is to note that, differently from similar police bodies (such as the Central Security Office), members of the Intelligence and Security Organization do not have the qualification of judicial police agents and officers. The Departments are:

  • Counter-espionage Department (Reparto Controspionaggio, RE.CO.S.)
  • Anti-Mafia and Fugitives Department (Reparto Antimafia e Catturandi, R.A.M.C.);
  • Anti-Trafficking and Anti-Smuggling Department (Reparto per il Contrasto al Narcotraffico e al Contrabbando, RE.CO.NA.C.);
  • Frauds and Money Laundering Department (Reparto per il Contrasto alle Frodi e al Riciclaggio, RE.CO.FRO.R.): staffed by delegates of the Royal Guard of Finance;
  • Anti-immigration Department (Reparto per la Lotta all'Immigrazione, RE.L.I.): staffed by delegates of the Coast Guard;
  • Analysis Department (Reparto Analisi, R.AN.);
  • Counter-terrorism Department (Reparto Antiterrorismo, R.A.T.);
  • Operational Anticipation Department (Reparto Anticipazione Operativa, R.ANT.OP.);
  • Technical Investigations Department (Reparto Investigazioni Tecniche, R.I.T.);
  • Linguistic Analysis Department (Reparto Analisi Linguistiche, R.A.L.);
  • Liaision Officer with the Military Police Command (Ufficiale di Collegamento con il Comando Polizia Militare U.CO.POL.): a CC.RR. officer from the Military Police Command;
  • Liaision Officer with the Royal Guard of Finance (Ufficiale di Collegamento con il Servizio Informazioni della Reale Guardia di Finanza, U.CO.S.I.GU.F.): a RGdF officer from the General Command;
  • Liaision Officer with the M.V.S.N. (Ufficiale di Collegamento con la Milizia, U.CO.MIL.): a M.V.S.N. officer in charge for all M.V.S.N. bodies and branches;
  • Liaision Officer with the Public Security (Ufficiale di Collegamento con la Divisione Affari Generali, U.CO.D.A.G.): a civilian P.S. official from the General Affairs Division.

Analysis Department

The Analysis Department (Reparto Analisi, R.AN.) has the exclusive mission of research, collection, exploitation, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence obtained by regular gendarmerie forces or by the O.I.S. itself.
The Analysis Department includes the Management Section (Sezione Gestione, Se.G.), which collects intelligence from open sources and other reports transmitted by non-intelligence units; and an Analysis and Dissemination Section (Sezione Analisi e Disseminazione, S.A.D.), which is charged to exploit, analyse, and disseminate intelligence gathered from the other Departments and by the Collection Section.

Operational Anticipation Department

The Operational Anticipation Department (Reparto Anticipazione Operativa, R.ANT.OP.) is the public order intelligence department of the O.I.S. and the de facto Carabinieri operational arm for meddling and partecipation in security activities.
The R.ANT.OP. proposes the doctrine relating to intelligence missions within the militarised police corps, treats internal and external information allowing the alert of the authorities, as well as the monitoring of sensitive situations in the short term, participates research, collection, analysis and dissemination of defence, public order and national security information necessary for the performance of the missions of the militarised police corps, ensures the processing of operational intelligence of public, leads or participates, with the other bodies, in inter-ministerial crisis management and follows and coordinates the action of the units in its area of responsibility. Finally, it centralizes information in real time thanks to the Operational Intelligence Section (Sezione Informazioni Operative, S.I.O.) and studies in detail each major topic likely to have repercussions in matters of public order or general security, via the Analysis and Operations Section (Sezione Analisi e Operazioni, S.A.O.).
This Department has established itself as a real intelligence structure: from its construction into intelligence developed to its ascent to allow the Commandant-General of the Carabinieri, or even the Director General of Public Security, to make a decision. They can then measure the reality on the ground, commit resources, order operations and inform government authorities.

Operational Support Group

Commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel, the Operational Support Group materializes the support required by the different Departments of the Organisation, by order of the O.I.S. commander, and that require a greater qualification in the use of technical means or operating procedures. It is in charge of operational actions, monitoring, surveillance, etc.

Service Training and Recycling Centre

Commanded by a Colonel, it attends to the needs of continuous training, training and recycling of the personnel, complementing the general instruction already received in the selection and qualification process, directing it to the specific activity to be developed, as well as as to the relationship with the teaching centers of the Corps and other similar services.

Security Group

The Security Group deals with internal security, passing regular reports on the political situation in police military corps barracks and units, identifying especially those officers known for their political dissention towards the Fascist Regime, opposition circles within the units, signs of discontent, etc. A second objective was counter-espionage: to prevent any foreign nation or political group hostile to Italy from knowing details about the intentions and real military force of the Nation. The Security Group conducts proactive counterintelligence activities to detect, identify, assess, and counter, neutralize or exploit foreign intelligence and insider threats. The Group is divided into:

  • Section I - Protection: the Section conducts counterintelligence, counterterrorist and counterespionage investigations and operations abroad and at home.
  • Section II - Operations Security: the section conducts external operations security in support of police forces, to advise and assist commanders on threat vulnerabilities.

Territorial organisation

With the O.I.S., the Italian police military corps in general, and particularly the Royal Carabinieri, have a body centralising all the information and intelligence provided by the units and services of the corps. This reorganization allows the police military corps to take advantage of their vast territorial networks, which allow it to gather information on almost the entire national territory. Thus, with the O.I.S. to centralize, exploit, analyze, and disseminate the intelligence collected, the police military corps have a service exclusively responsible for intelligence. Also, the presence of peripheral detachments at every Joint Regional Command (C.P.R. Area Inspectorates and CC.RR. Legions) allows a better management of intelligence at all levels. Thus, even if the Carabinieri who collect information do not use the intelligence cycle, the regional detachment will take all the necessary measures to ensure that the information collected is cross-checked, processed,and analysed. The role of the regional detachment thus enables the Chief of the Joint Regional Command (and the Legion commander) to respond effectively to the intelligence needs addressed to him by the civilian and military authorities.

See also

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