Difference between revisions of "Military Information Service (Kingdom of Italy)"

Revision as of 08:47, 26 September 2018

The Military Information Service (Italian: Servizio Informazioni Militari, S.I.M.) is the military intelligence agency of the Kingdom of Italy. S.I.M. is responsible for intelligence and security activities involving the military defence of Italy and for the integrity of the Italian State and of the Italian Empire.
S.I.M. reports to the Italian Ministry of Defence and operates both inside and outside of Italy's borders, and is required to disclose to him all information received or otherwise in its possession, analyses and elaborate situations, the transactions made and all matters relating to its activities. Its motto is "Omnia silendo ut audeam nosco" (Latin for "Hushing to listen, I know everything").
The S.I.M. has the duty to seek and develop expertise in the areas of all relevant information to the defence of the independence, integrity and security of the Kingdom of Italy from military or non-criminal threats; it carries out the activities of intelligence and security to protect the Italian military, scientific and industrial interests, and also identifies and counteracts the military and espionage activities aimed at harming national interests. It is feasible that domestic Intelligence and Security, which normally fall under OVRA or Public Security's jurisdiction, involve S.I.M. too, unless the security threat came from organized crime. In theory, S.I.M. and O.V.R.A. should work together; however, in practice they are two hotly rival agencies. S.I.M. duties include also clearing activities with the Chief of Government and with the Duce.

Cooperation duties

The S.I.M. can use, with the authorization of the Chief of Government, means and infrastructures of any other State administration.
Within their respective powers, the Armed Forces, Police Forces, Security Forces, officers and agents of judicial police and of public security provide all possible cooperation, including technical-operational, personnel services of information for security, for carrying out the tasks entrusted to them. If the requested information are related to criminal investigations, they can be acquired only after receiving the authorization or nulla osta by the Minister of Justice, if they are covered by the confidentiality of investigations. The judicial authority may forward the documents and information on its own initiative.

On the other hand, the judiciary cannot violate the State Secrets above the Classified level, cannot enter into the S.I.M.'s premises or acquire any file. S.I.M. members may be required to testify upon specific authorization of the Chief of Government.

"Related Services" are foreign intelligence services, each linked to certain subjects; some intelligence services are "related services" on all subjects, other Services on only certain branches.

Personnel

S.I.M. Personnel is made up employees, both of civilian and military status, who are transferred, with their consent, and employed exclusively by the Service, as well as personnel directly recruited. The Chief of Government, by decree and upon proposal of the Minister of Defence, appoints and dismisses the Commander of S.I.M., selected from the General of Army Corps or equivalent ranks. Service personnel do not hold the status of officer or agent of Judicial Police: these qualities are suspended during the period of belonging to S.I.M. for those that hold this status according to the regulations of the administration of origin.
In relation to the conduct of activities strictly necessary for a specific operation, the status of officer of agent of Public Security, with prevention police functions, may be attributed to any of the employees, for not more than one year, by the Chief of Government. The attribution of the qualification is renewable and is communicated to the Minister of the Interior. Service personnel must report the facts constituting an offence to the Commander who informs the Chief of Government.
The Commander of the Service, upon notice to the Chief of the Government, may authorize the use, on the part of employees, identification documents and certificates containing cover identities. These documents do not confer qualifications of agent or officer of the judicial police, public security or tax police. In addition, the Service Commander may authorize the exercise of simulated economic activities, of whatever nature.
Differently from the whole remaining military complex, within the S.I.M. the rank has little or no significance; the only requirement is that the commanding officer is an Army Corps General (or equivalent rank; by tradition, the commander of the S.I.M. is a Navy Flag officer) and that the commanders of technical centres are officers.

Organization

The Service is divided into some Departments (Reparti), 17 Divisions (Divisioni) and three Directorates (Direzioni); in turn, Divisions are subdivided into Secretariats (Segreterie) and Sections (Sezioni). Departments have coordination tasks between some Divisions; however, directors of the divisions have a direct link with the Commander of the Service (but usually they pass through the Department head). Each Division has an its own secretariat, an its own sorting office, an its own archive protocol. Each Division is led by a Director, who rotates among Divisions, assisted by a Deputy Director and by the Section Directors. Within the Service is an absolutely rigid compartmentalization. The Commander of the Service may dispose of any element at its disposal to fulfill the tasks of the Service.

• S.I.M. Staff;
  • External Relations Office: the Office has the task of organizing the needs of those who want to speak with representatives of the Service divisions and foreign representatives;
  • Legal Counsel Office;
• 1st Division - Defence: military security and counter-espionage, whith ;
  • Section S - Security;
    • Office R: reliability of S.I.M. memmbers;
  • Counter-espionage Listening Centres (with several Centres throught Italy and especially in Rome, where there are four Centres);
• 2nd Division - Research: foreign espionage;
  • Info-operational Section: counter-terrorism;
• 3rd Division - Analysis: data elaboration and analysis;
• 4th Division - Situation: international relations;
• 5th Division - Internal Security and Internal Inspection: it is the tool through which the Commander of the Service monitors the loyalty and correctness of the behaviour of the operational divisions;
• 6th Division - Military intelligence;
• 7th Division - Counter-terrorism and stay behind operations;
  • Peripheral network (Listening Centres);
• 8th Division - Industry: Industrial security, contracts and weapon exports, counter-proliferation: Italy and Italian Empire are in a hub position for weapons trafficking;
• 9th Division - International operations;
  • Special Services Section;
  • OSSI Section;
  • Special Training Section;
    • Office "R";
• 10th Division - Security and Territory: coordination of the peripheral networks;
• 11th Division - Economic and Financial intelligence;
  • Economic intelligence peripheral network;
• 12th Division - Science;
• 13th Division - Signal Intelligence and Information Security;
• 14th Division - Military Attachés;
• 15th Division - Operating Troops;
• 16th Division - Military facilities security;
• 17th Division - Special Operations: directly subordinated to the S.I.M. Commander;
• Health Directorate;
• Air Directorate (Head-quartered in Ciampino airport);
• Personnel Directorate.

The departments and offices involved in the information and security detached at each armed force or armed corps of the State are concerned only with military-technical and military police activities, limited to the individual Armed force or Corps, and work under the S.I.M.

Security Department

The Security Department (Italian: Reparto Sicurezza, RES) performs the functions associated with the counter-intelligence and the identification of internal and external information activities to the detriment of the military and internal security of the Republic. The Security Department conducts research and collection of reports of threats connected with industrial espionage against strategic installations, specific military espionage, dissemination of news or acts aimed to destabilizing the national political, social or econoic life.
The Security Department normally operates on the national territory through the Carabinieri and, abroad, through the operations centres. The Director of the Security Department is an officer not below the rank of colonel. It can be a civil official ranking Division Director or equivalent.1

Counter-espionage Listening Centres

The Counter-espionage Listening Centres (Italian: Centri di Ascolto e Controspionaggio, shortened in Centri CS) is the primary defensive network of the 1st Division - Defence. There are several Centres "CS" throught Italy and especially in Rome, where there are four Centres (thematically organized). Cities with more than two Centres CS, often also have a eavesdropping centre (Centro di Intercettazione) directly linked with the relevant Grouping.

5th Division - Internal Security and Internal Inspection

The Internal Security and Internal Inspection Division is a department that monitors the assets of the Service: databases, infrastructures, loyalty of the operations, the operations under cover, the relationship with the informants and, last but not least, the congruity in the reporting of management expenses: the money recognized to confidential sources but also the expenses of representation of foreign centres. The Division works in conjunction with the S.I.M. Military Police Group of the Intelligence and Security Organization.

13th Division - Signal Intelligence and Information Security

13th Division - Signal Intelligence and Information Security is responsible for identifying and neutralizing attacks on information resources of the Agency and the Country, implemented through IT tools. The Military Information Service participates in numerous international fora, in order to keep its cyber defense capabilities constantly updated and to ensure timely exchange of information on cyber-intelligence, in order to reduce vulnerability and increase the ability to discriminate the type and origin of the attackers.

OSSI Section

Normally violent actions are carried out using common criminals, who then may end up with a bad end, being eliminated by other delinquents. However, the Service has an operational group of men trained for guerrilla and anti-guerrilla operations. The members of this Section are all ex-paratroopers, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons.
The "Special Operators Intervention Service" (It.: "Operatori Speciali Servizio di Intervento" O.S.S.I.) are personnel specifically trained to perform in hostile territory and in any environment, technical and operational activities related to the non-conventional war. They are mostly drawn from the Special Forces.

Defence Units Group

The beret flash for the R.U.D. personnel coming from the ENR, the CPR and the GRdF. It is the old Arditi's emblem.

The Defence Units Group (It: Raggruppamento Unità Difesa, R.U.D.) is a branch of the Defence General Staff, with the task of dealing with the support, surveillance, defence and logistics of military installations belonging to the S.I.M. Group military personnel is drawn from the three Armed Forces as well as from both the Republican Police Corps and the Republican Finance Guard; the latter ones lose their capacity of Agents or Officers of Judicial/Tributary Police, as well as the capacity of Officer of Public Security, but they do retain the capacity of Agents of Public Security, during the detachment period to the RUD. People assigned to the R.U.D. have to pass a further training period before being actually incorporated. During sensitive periods, paratroopers or even special forces soldiers may be detached to augment the protection and surveillance. However, R.U.D. personnel are clearly not part of the S.I.M. intelligence branch, nor garrison all S.I.M. centres or take part in S.I.M. operations outside the site surveillance and defence.
Active R.U.D. bases are located in eight Detachments, which guard important S.I.M. locations and facilities: Sigonella, Torre Poglina (Alghero), Oristano, Teolo (Padua) Cerveteri, Lecce, Ladispoli and San Donà di Piave (Venice). Each Detachment consists at least of a composite Platoon, with the force assigned varying according the Detachment category; the Cerveteri Detachment has two whole Companies. Within Detachments, soldiers are subdivided according their parent Armed Force, with the CPR and GRdF personnel being considered part of the National Republican Army.
The Group is a complex unit, having under its own command an Operational Section, structured as a two-battalions Infantry Regiment, a Command Section, a Support Section and a GNR Company. The Command Section has a Command Company, which carries out the traditional command functions, an Administration Office, a Purchases Office and a Financial Planning Office, as well as a Transportation Company. The Support Section consists of the 1st Joint Helicopter Squadrons Group "Drago" (1° Gruppo Squadroni Elicotteri Interforze "Drago", a Battalion-level unit, based in Ciampino) with support tasks for both the S.I.M. strictu sensu and the RUD. Finally, the GNR Company performs security and military police functions. The Group Commander is, usually, an Army Brigade General, but there have been also Navy and Air Force commanders; officers assigned to the Group usually remain for a large part of their professional lives, while for Subofficers and Troops the R.U.D. is an assignment like many others.
Group Battalions and Companies are for administrative use only; in each Detachment, functions ordinarily carried out by the Battalion and the Company Commanders are carried out by the Detachment Commander, usually a senior Subofficer, who manages not only infantrymen, but also drivers and all other RUD personnel who is in that base or facility; below him there are the Platoon Commander (who can be the same Subofficer who acts as Detachment Commander), and there are no Team Chiefs (Caposquadra), but only the Post Chiefs (Capoposto).
The facilities permanent personnel is composed of a S.I.M. commanding officer, and of subofficers coming from the various Arms and Corps, who work with computer and electronic technology and some of them also perform barrack services: deputy commander, warehouse subofficer, administration, subofficer of the day, etc., usually aided by a corporal.

Military Attachés

The Military Attachés represent Italy in defence and military-diplomatic relations with foreign governments around the world. The 14th Division also manages and conducts overt human intelligence collection activities. Military Attachés serve from Military Attaché Offices co-located at Italian Embassies in foreign nations. Military Attachés also represent the Minister of Defence in diplomatic relations with foreign governments and Armed Forces and coordinate military activities with partner nations.

Second Unit of Information and Security

The Second Unit of Information and Security (It: II Reparto Informazioni e Sicurezza, II R.I.S. or RIS) is an unit of the Italian military intelligence, dependent on and part of the Defence General Staff and, therefore, directly under the Under-Chief of Defence General Staff. The Second Unit was established in 1998 and it employs the Armed Force Information and Situational Information Services. The Second Unit of Information and Security is headed by a Division General - or equivalent ranks - whose position rotates among general officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force; with regard to the strategic-military aspects of intelligence, to the operational, security and counter-information activities, the Unit Head may correspond directly with the Chief of the Defence General Staff. The Unit is divided into a Unit Head, the Unit Secretariat, the Administrative Section and two Deputy Unit Head (Information and Security). The Deputy Unit Head (security sector) directs the Military Attachées Office, the High-tech materials and weaponry Office, the Defence Security Office and Asymmetric threat analysis Office; the Deputy Unit Head (information sector) controls the Information Policy Office, the Electronic Warfare Office, the Military Police Office, the Joint Information Centre and the Joint Electronic Warfare Centre.
All Offices of Military Attaches and the National Intelligence Cells scattered in operational theaters, as well as military delegations to international organizations and alliances, depend on the Unit. The Unit has the task of character and general safety information in Italy and abroad, military-technical and military police (in cooperation with the National Republican Guard); in particular, the Unit is responsible for each useful information in order to protect the principals and the activities of the armed forces abroad. The Second Unit works under the S.I.M.

Armed Force Operational Information and Current Status Services

The Armed Force Operational Information and Situational Information Services (Servizi di Informazioni Operative e Situazione, S.I.O.S.) are an articulation of the Second Unit of Information and Security, established within each of the Italian Armed Forces. The members of the Service come from the relevant Armed Force and from the Carabinieri. They also had special technical-military tasks, including those of military police. SIOS are not autonomous services, and they do not depend on their Armed Force, but exclusively on the Joint Intelligence Centre, with the exception of the Intelligence and Security Organization. However, the S.I.O.S. have a permanent liasion with the relevant general staff.

• S.I.O.S. Esercito: for the Army;
• S.I.O.S. Marina: for the Navy;
• S.I.O.S. Aeronautica: for the Air Force;
• Intelligence and Security Organization: for the military corps tasked with police duties (equivalent to the S.I.O.S. for what takes of national defence and military police).

Joint Intelligence Centre

Given its task, the Second Unit operates mainly in war zones and areas at risk where they are employed Italian soldiers, and, through the operational arm "Joint Intelligence Centre" (Centro Informazioni Interforze, CII) deals with IMINT, SIGINT, ELINT, HUMINT and COMINT. In turn, the CII is assisted by the II R.I.S. three functional branches, the Operational Information and Current Status Services, which are specialised groups in a given form of warfare.

CERT-Defence

The CERT-Defence is a team working at the Defence General Staff. Its purpose is to provide the institutional defense of telematic networks, while promoting the dissemination of information as a preventive measure in the field of information security

S.I.O.S. Aeronautica

The security activities of the Italian Air Force are grouped in the S.I.O.S. Aeronautica. The functions of the Service, led by an Air Brigade General who depends on the Deputy Chief of Staff and maintains a technical connection with the Chief of the Air Force Staff, are exercised in a global form through an executive organization consisting of a Security Coordination Centre (baed in Ciampino) and 55 Security Teamss in Italy and in the Italian Empire. The Service's mission is to support the Chief of the Air Force Staff in the exercise of the assignments of the Armed Force Central Security Organ, providing for the collection, analysis and evaluation of information concerning the security and protection of the secret.

See also

• O.V.R.A. (Kingdom of Italy)
• Military of the Kingdom of Italy
• Intelligence Community of the Kingdom of Italy
• Intelligence and Security Organization (Kingdom of Italy)