The National Institute of Intelligence and Security “Bogdan, Founder of Moldova” of the Security and Intelligence Service (SIS) said it is inadmissible for a security service to fulfill its duties – to know, prevent, counteract, investigate, block – without having instruments and appropriate legal means, strictly in relation to the set objectives. This way, without a “security mandate”, the technical possibilities cannot be used to examine specific relevant cases that affect national security.
“The security mandate is a legal framework, a balance between what is required of SIS and what is offered to it in the absence of legal means of action, which are seriously affected, so that society could appreciate the operational effort made by a special service for protecting the national security of the country and of the citizens. We affirm that the security mandate cannot be described as an uncontrolled weapon in the hands of the Security and Intelligence Service. It is a shield designed to protect national security. Moreover, this could be subject to parliamentary and judicial control,” shows a press release of the Institute, which is quoted by IPN.
According to this, in July 2014 Moldova’s Parliament gave a first reading to a bill to offer the security mandate to the SIS, drafted by experts of the Ministry of Justice together with the Human Rights Directorate of the Council of Europe Directorate General for Human Rights and Rule of Law. This was designed to improve the national legal framework for the protection of “state security” and to combat extremism. The bill is aimed at instituting a procedure that would enable the SIS to perform special investigation activities outside the penal framework, by a“security mandate” justified by a prosecutor and issued by a judge, with explicit access to the state secret.
In a news conference on the issue staged by the Institute, about 50 experts said most of the European countries offered the security mandate to the own national security bodies, which is the possibility of performing specific activities for collecting information only based on an authorization during a longer period of time.
The importance and role of the security mandate offered to a special security service is realized by analyzing the hidden dangers that can appear in the abusive use of the Internet, of the mass media by criminal or terrorist groups. Also, in most of the cases, the way in which the special services work needs to remain “secret”, especially when the potential suspects include security services of other states, criminal or terrorist groups that are anytime ready to use any vulnerability.
Currently, the most efficient special investigation measures in Moldova can be taken only as part of a criminal case and only when the offense was already committed. The goal of the Security and Intelligence Service is to first of all prevent deeds that can affect state security, to anticipate and counteract these by non-penal measures. Moreover, the SIS does not have criminal investigation bodies and does not have the power to start criminal cases.
