Sunday Times 2
When intelligence is unintelligent
View(s):Four incidents written earlier are recalled as a preamble to illustrate the predicament the country has fallen into. The predicament is one calculated to promote insecurity for other political purposes such as, to distract from the promise of plenty made during election time.
Failure of police intelligence is the glaring fact in recent history. ‘Intelligence – Unintelligently’ is therefore an awkward phrase conjured to describe a chequered history of police intelligence, this time in public security intelligence. This article is thus confined here to police intelligence and public security, not to crime intelligence. For in the recent past, police intelligence and public security in their disorder — ‘unintelligent’ — have presented some serious problems, mainly security failures.
On October 4, the Ven. Hadigalle Wimalsiri Thera, accompanied by several other monks, met the IGP. They told the IGP that police visited several temples to tell the priests that an Easter type of attack on temples was possible and asked them to organise their own security. The priests wanted this matter inquired into and asked whether the Government would launch an investigation.
In like mode, Catholic Churches were visited by Navy personnel who warned their priests in similar vein. Fr Cyril Gamage spoke on behalf of these churches, fearing much consternation. He asked for an inquiry since he doubted the bona fides of the Navy. An immediate reply from the Navy said this was a mistake. The doubts grew even more. The Catholic Church asks for a proper inquiry.
The Buddhist Front at a later media conference spoke of another Buddhist priest activist who had said that he had specific information of an attack by the ISIS, that he even knew of where some weapons/bombs were hidden. They asked for a due inquiry. No inquiry has been launched by the authorities.
These recent incidents point to an upheaval of serious security lapses from weak intelligence. The Minister in Charge of the Police said publicly this was only a drill, meaning perhaps it was just a practice exercise. That statement of the Minister only threw a darker cloud to further confuse. This statement is not convincing whether the matter is one of public security or devised or contrived insecurity. And if this was a cover up story of the Government, it was an attempt plainly puerile; a want of intelligence the Minister repeatedly displays. They all asked for a public statement from the IGP. That too was not forthcoming. The IGP may have been turning the other cheek.
The Easter Sunday incident has some Intelligence implications. But the Intelligence Services (NIB) may have more to add to this story, if intelligence was their task. Bombs and weapons have suddenly been discovered on other reports. For various reasons the state intelligence may yet refrain from doing so for unaccounted reasons.
The previous instance was the 2019 Easter Bombing incident. The report on this is well known. Only matters of intelligence, not spoken of before will be mentioned at this point. All the investigation which followed the incident was centred on only the 7/8 days of the Easter week, when specific information was received. Negligence at the hands of many was spoken of openly, including the Commission appointed. They all focused attention only within the same 7/8 days. Apparently, there was no consideration of the intelligence preceding this week, for nearly about two/three years before the Easter date.
During that previous period some extremist group operated about freely, run by a military intelligence unit with public funds, and all their action was kept outside the regular Army. Therefore, all the earlier doings of the extra military unit had a relevance to the group which figured in the Easter bombing. But significantly, the former happenings were not linked with the bombings of the Easter week, linked on an ‘intelligence’ basis. The failure was an intelligence failure, as much as an investigation failure, at the lowest and at the highest levels. ’Unintelligence’ was at its dubious depths. One can only speculate that against that failure the information/intelligence received from India in that Easter week would have been acted upon more responsibly, from due intelligence perspective.
Failure of intelligence in this instance was all the more evident in the findings from investigation which followed immediately with the bombing. These later discoveries as bombs swords etc. need not be recounted here as they are well known. Less known and less spoken of is the fact that all these investigation findings are matters that should have been elicited at preceding intelligence. Had that been the case, history would have been different.
How and why did
this happen thus?
Takeover of police intelligence by the Army is the reality today. Some observations may yet be made, citing only relevant sections verbatim from Leo Tolstoy in his Book Resurrection pgs 76, 77: ‘Military service always corrupts a man, placing him… absence of all intelligent and useful work… liberating him from the common obligations of humanity (common good) substituting conventional considerations (medals, ribbons, regiment etc.) demanding slavish subjection to superior officers.’ In the local context, the publication by the Army of a Coffee Table Book with pictures of Police intelligence establishments is a clear pointer to unintelligent ‘intelligence’ work in this military takeover.
Intelligence failures in other areas of policing are avoided here for the present. Takeover by the military of police intelligence was only in that order as cited by Tolstoy. The poor result of police intelligence is also of police inadequacy so contrived. The ensuing result of failure of police intelligence is thus inevitable.
(The writer is a Retired Senior Superintendent of Police.
He can be contacted at seneviratnetz@gmail.com
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