22 February 2023 12:08 pm Views - 1915
Plans were afoot to bring the decision making with regard to the intelligence information of the State Intelligence Services (SIS) under an official of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States just as in 2001, Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa said today.
He told Parliament that the 20-member US delegation of the Pentagon headed by US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs (PDASD) Jedidiah P. Royal visited the SIS office in Colombo.
"We heard that the US delegation paid a visit to the SIS office. Plans are underway to bring the SIS information handling and decision making under CIA officials. This officer is to decide which information to send and which not to. The same operation was in place in 2001 and it was withdrawn in 2004," he said.
The MP said the government should reveal what was discussed and what decisions were taken during the US delegation's visit and added that it was reported that they met the President, Defence Secretary and heads of Intelligence Services.
Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga said the government would inform the House regarding the matter on a future date.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabri said the Foreign Ministry was unaware of the visit and that it was handled by the Defence Ministry.(Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)