The ''Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa'' (SIRP,

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

for "Informations System of the Portuguese Republic") is the coordinating structure of the Portuguese intelligence. It is the parent body for two separate intelligence agencies: the ''Serviço de Informações de Segurança'' (SIS, Security Intelligence Service) for the internal security intelligence and the '' Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa'' (SIED, Defense and Strategic Informations Service) for foreign

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

. The SIS and the SIED are the public services responsible for ensuring—within the

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and the

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

—the production of intelligence necessary to the safeguard of the national independence and the safeguard of the internal security.

History

During the New State regime and until its end in 1974, the main intelligence agency in Portugal was the

PIDE The International and State Defense Police ( pt, Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado; PIDE) was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the '' Estado Novo'' regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of th ...

—''Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado'' (International and State Defense Police). Nominally under jurisdiction of the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...

, PIDE was in fact a

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of ...

force controlled directly by

prime-minister

António de Oliveira Salazar António de Oliveira Salazar (, , ; 28 April 1889 – 27 July 1970) was a Portuguese dictator who served as President of the Council of Ministers from 1932 to 1968. Having come to power under the ("National Dictatorship"), he reframed the r ...

. In 1968, under Salazar's successor

Marcello Caetano Marcelo José das Neves Alves Caetano (; 17 August 1906 – 26 October 1980) was a Portuguese politician and scholar. He was the second and last leader of the Estado Novo after succeeding António Salazar. He served as prime minister from 196 ...

, PIDE was renamed the ''Direcção Geral de Segurança'' (DGS, Directorate General of Security) and underwent some reform. Following a coup by the

Portuguese military The Portuguese Armed Forces ( pt, Forças Armadas) are the military of Portugal. They include the General Staff of the Armed Forces, the other unified bodies and the three service branches: Portuguese Navy, Portuguese Army and Portuguese Air ...

in 1974 the agency was immediately abolished due to the abhorrence felt for the PIDE/DGS as a tool of the authoritarian regime. Because of the memory of the abuses of the PIDE/DGS in supporting the regime the establishment of a new civilian intelligence agency was delayed for more than a decade. However, following a terrorist attack on the Embassy of Turkey in 1983, the assassination of a

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representative Representative may refer to: Politics * Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people * House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities * Legislator, som ...

at a

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conference also in 1983, and a number of domestic terrorist attacks, the

Portuguese government , border = Central , image = , caption = , date = , state = Portuguese Republic , address = Official Residence of the Prime Minister Estrela, Lisbon , appointed = President ...

became convinced of the need for a new intelligence agency. This led to the establishment of SIRP in 1984.

Organization

The SIRP is under the direct authority of the

Prime Minister of Portugal The prime minister of Portugal ( pt, primeiro-ministro; ) is the head of government of Portugal. As head of government, the prime minister coordinates the actions of ministers, represents the Government of Portugal to the other bodies of state, ...

and includes: * the Supervisory Council of the SIRP (under the authority of the

Portuguese Parliament The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: ''Assembleia da República'', ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament ...

); * the Data Supervisory Committee of the SIRP (under the authority of the Attorney General of Portugal); * the Superior Council of Intelligence; * the Secretary General of the SIRP; * the SIED; * the SIS. The Secretary General—equivalent to a secretary of State and designated by the Prime-Minister—is the head of the SIRP and coordinates the directors of the SIED and the SIS. It is the inspection, supervision and coordination organ of both the intelligence services. Directly under the Secretary General is the Administrative and Technical Support Office and the four joint departments of the SIRP (Finance and General Support, Security, Human Resources and Information Technology).

External links

Official Website of SIED

Official Website of SIS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sistema de Informacoes da Republica Portuguesa Portuguese intelligence agencies Intelligence analysis agencies

History

Organization

See also

External links