Palace reorganizes intel body

From Palawan News (Jan 24, 2024): Palace reorganizes intel body (By Andrew Atienza)

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. reorganizes NICA to ensure national security and promote national interest amid evolving threats. (Malacañang Photo)

In a bid to strengthen intelligence gathering and analysis to ensure national security and promote national interest, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has reorganized the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) by signing Executive Order No. 54 on January 19.

“There is a need to reorganize the NICA to adapt to the evolving threats to national security and ensure a more vigorous intelligence collection, intensify internal and external coordination with foreign and domestic counterparts, and prepare intelligence and security assessments and estimates using data analytics to ensure national security and promote the national interest,” the EO stated.

Marcos saw the need to reorganize NICA to adapt to the changing threats to national security.

Former President Corazon C. Aquino created the NICA through EO No. 246 in 1987.

As the main component of its reorganization, EO 54 established the Office of the Deputy Director General (ODDG) for Cyber and Emerging Threats, tasked with providing direction to the overall planning, supervision, and coordination of the NICA on counter-intelligence and counter-measures against cybersecurity threats, weapons of mass destruction, and other emerging threats.

The ODDG for Cyber and Emerging Threats would be headed by a Deputy Director General with the rank of Assistant Secretary to be appointed by the President and would be composed of the Directorate for Counterintelligence and Security (DCS) and the Directorate for Cyberintelligence and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (DCCWMD).

Marcos said EO 54 would have to take effect immediately.

https://palawan-news.com/palace-reorganizes-intel-body/