SINGAPORE: Not many people can say their work involves briefing their country’s top leaders. For Ng Kah Meng and his colleagues at the Security and Intelligence Division (SID), the job involved not just regular briefings to the Cabinet, but also being grilled by Lee Kuan Yew.
Ng, a former SID senior director for counter-terrorism, recalled making trips to the Istana, where he faced Lee’s detailed questioning on national security matters.
Lee’s initial questions could drill into very minute details, as he wanted to “satisfy himself that you were not winging it”. But once Lee was satisfied, Ng said the conversation would shift into analysis mode, and then to decision-making based on the facts and assessments SID provided.
That Lee and other government leaders counted on SID’s intel to make critical policy decisions is a point of pride for three former SID directors, whom the secretive agency made available for media interviews ahead of its 60th anniversary.
“We saw this first-hand: We provided the intelligence, (Lee) made the decisions, but those decisions were taken in real time, based on the information that we had given him,” said Ng, who served in SID from 1981 to 2013.
“So we really felt the responsibility and accountability to make sure that we gave him the best possible, most accurate intelligence and the most insightful assessments.”
On Sept 4, a closed-door ceremony was held to commemorate the agency’s 60 years of contributions to the Republic’s success.
At the event, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Singapore’s external intelligence agency played an important role at critical junctures in the city-state’s history, and also at moments that “may never enter the public record, and will not be discussed, even in a closed-door setting like this”.
Among the policies that SID has helped shape is Singapore’s society-wide response to terrorism, said the three veterans.
The Sept 11, 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda and the detection of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network here in the same year sounded the alarm that terrorism was a very real danger to Singapore.
Senior leaders in Government realised that a fundamental shift had occurred. “This was no longer a policeman’s problem but a problem of strategic proportions,” said Ng.
He recounted how the agency “furiously” ramped up its counter-terrorism coverage in those years, and issued a series of assessments explaining the situation to the Cabinet.
SID argued that Singapore needed a far bigger and more strategic response, and it made logical sense “to go upstream way before these elements became tangible, concrete threats”, Ng added.
Once radicalised individuals were detained, there also had to be a framework to rehabilitate them with the help of community and religious leaders, he added.
All this would come to pass. In 2002, the authorities started the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles to build understanding between different ethnic and religious groups at the ground level.
That same year, the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group comprising a network of Muslim organisations was formed to provide emotional, social and financial support to JI detainees and their families.
In 2003, a group of Islamic scholars who had been assisting the Government to rehabilitate JI detainees came together to form the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG). From providing counselling, the RRG went on to engage the wider public and address misinterpretations of Islamic concepts.
While the terror threat has waxed and waned over the years, it has never completely gone away, the interviewees noted.
Former SID chief-of-staff Kevin Santa Maria recounted how SID worked with other intelligence agencies to uncover a 2016 plot by six Indonesians to launch a rocket attack against the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort from Batam.
The agency’s role included finding out more about the perpetrators, such as whether they had links to wider terror networks and other plots, he added.
Besides terrorism, the SID also scans for other geopolitical, social and economic threats, said Santa Maria. New challenges that did not exist at the agency’s inception include the threats posed by misinformation and information warfare in an increasingly digitised world.
Calling the technological front “where the real problems hitting us right now are”, he said SID works closely with other government agencies such as the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, the Internal Security Department, and fellow Mindef brethren at the Digital and Intelligence Service to counter cyberthreats.
In a nutshell, SID’s job has always been to be “the first bearer of bad news” for Singapore by providing the country’s leaders with early warnings of risks and dangers looming on the horizon, said Ng.
The deep institutional expertise across geographic theatres and issue domains is a big part of why SID can be the state’s voice of authenticity and accountability despite the vast amount of information floating around, he added.
This is useful when, for example, Singapore’s leaders want to understand the deeper motivations behind a foreign counterpart’s statement or policy actions.
“What we offer to the political leaders are facts that we have very thoroughly scrutinised, correlated, cross-referenced and corroborated with a whole range of sources that are both open and non-open,” he said.
Former SID director Eddie Teo, the agency’s longest-serving director from 1979 to 1994, said the issues may evolve, but SID’s mission will always be to keep the city-state’s policymakers well informed through objective and accurate intelligence assessments.
This means never allowing intelligence to become politicised, as has happened in some other countries, said Teo, who in June stepped down as chairman of the Council of Presidential Advisers.
“Our role (is) to be objective, to be accurate and not to suppress information that may not look good to our policymakers,” he added.
“We’re not telling our policymakers your policies are wrong. We’re just telling them the facts, and the facts (can) show that their assumptions may not be quite accurate.”
On why SID is being uncharacteristically public now, Santa Maria said it hopes to familiarise Singaporeans with its work keeping Singapore safe from external threats. Doing so also affirms and gives public recognition to the work of SID’s officers, who cannot speak openly about what they do due to operational security.
Another reason is to boost recruitment. After the agency launched its public website and gave media interviews in 2021, it saw a 50 per cent increase in job applications.
The influx of mid-career professionals who have joined since 2021 – from industries as diverse as law, finance and communications – has changed the agency’s DNA, said Santa Maria, enriching the organisation with new perspectives and knowledge.
On Sept 4, SID announced that it has launched its official LinkedIn page. Together with its website, the platforms enhance public understanding of a career with the agency and help it to better connect with Singaporeans who can contribute towards its mission, said Mindef in a statement.
Ng said the SID will always be looking to recruit people with intellectual curiosity, honesty and humility.
“You have to keep questioning yourself about whether you could be wrong. You constantly question whether you have hidden prejudices, cognitive biases. We consciously try to avoid groupthink or ‘bossthink’,” he said.
At the same time, to be a member of this reticent organisation is to work for the good of Singapore largely away from the limelight.
Ng said that unlike diplomats and ambassadors who can become well known for their contributions, in SID “only your direct bosses know about your good work”.
For a long time, SID officers also were not allowed to get National Day awards as this was seen as a possible security risk, he added.
Santa Maria said SID officers take pride in doing very important work without public recognition. “The recognition is within the organisation itself, and that’s good enough for us.”
At the ceremony on Sept 4, PM Wong said SID must continue to sharpen its edge to keep Singapore safe and ahead. This includes understanding how countries use various economic and technological levers to advance their interests, at a time when the boundaries between security, economics and technology are becoming less distinct.
“New challenges will emerge and surprises will come. SID cannot predict everything, but SID can certainly help Singapore anticipate developments earlier, understand better, and prepare for what may come,” he said.
“For a small country like Singapore, that ability to anticipate, understand and act early is a vital source of strategic advantage. And you help contribute to this strategic advantage.” - The Straits Times/ANN
