My previous Budget Vote speeches in 2010 and 2011 focused on matters of national security and patriotism. In 2010, because it was the year of the Soccer World Cup, I particularly raised the issue of patriotism. A patriot, I said, is a person who is a proud supporter or defender of his or her country and its ways of life, a loyalist and a national flag-waver.
At the time, I reminded the House, and will continue to do so, that there were good people who work silently and dutifully out of the public eye and who play a major role in protecting the people of our country by the nature of the work they do. I said then that these people never get credit for the work they do. Yet they are the ones that are at the forefront of producing the products that warn us of any threats to our national security and national interests. We need to acknowledge their contribution. These people make up our intelligence community. They are true patriots of South Africa.
I acknowledge the work of our intelligence community, Chairperson, but there are many more good people in our country, who equally play a critical role in securing the country and our people. These people understand the importance of nation-building and the meaning of national security as set out in section 198(a) of our Constitution. Let me remind the hon members, this section reads:
National security must reflect the resolve of South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, to live as equals, to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life.
These ideals bring about security and stability, ideals we all demand and strive for; however, Chairperson, there are a few disgruntled individuals. These people are rogues - not whistle-blowers, not patriots, not concerned citizens, but traitors. Chairperson, the simple dictionary meaning of traitor is "a person who betrays another, a cause, or any trust, or a person who commits treason by betraying his or her country".
They undermine the constitutional order of our state that good citizens uphold. They distort and leak classified and sensitive information and have no regard for the consequences of their actions. They have no regard whether their actions compromise our national security or result in the death of any of our intelligence agents. Instead, they conceal themselves from detection because their agendas are evil and hidden.
Chairperson, let me come to the point. The hon Minister of Police, in his Budget Vote speech yesterday, dealt with the matter of Crime Intelligence. He gave all the details necessary concerning the Gen Mdluli matter. I share with the Minister of Police his warning about relying on the media for accuracy of information.
Chairperson, we have adopted a particular intelligence oversight model in our country. The oversight structures consist of the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, the Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence, the Auditor-General and the judge who deals with the authorisation of interceptions and related matters. Each entity has its function, which are set out in legislation. The matters, which you read about, all fall within the jurisdictional authority of one or more of the oversight structures which I have just referred to. Why then would people undermine the authority of these structures?
The activities of our intelligence entities are governed by our Constitution and legislation. The Public Audit Act, Act 25 of 2004, provides for the auditing of confidential, secret or classified accounts by the Auditor-General. Law regulates the operation of special or secret accounts and the utilisation of funds in these accounts. The oversight bodies, the Inspector-General of Intelligence, the Auditor-General's office and the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence, have the necessary oversight authority over these accounts and the activities in these accounts. Why then would people undermine the authority of these structures?
The JSCI is a multiparty joint committee. All its members have been vetted and have top-secret clearances. The Office of the Inspector-General is independent, just like the Office of the Auditor-General and that of the Public Protector.
Chairperson, as South Africans we must avoid becoming the slaves of information peddlers, traitors and rogue agents. To appreciate the dangers that await a nation when traitors and rogue agents get to work, look at these cases: Robert Philip Hanssen was born in 1944 and he became an FBI agent in 1976. During his 25-year FBI career, he had access to a broad range of highly sensitive counterintelligence and military information. He spied for the former Soviet Union and Russian Intelligence Services against the United States.
Hanssen's espionage spanned more than 20 years. He compromised some of the United States' most important counterintelligence and military secrets, including the identities of dozens of human sources, at least three of whom were executed. Hanssen gave the KGB thousands of pages of highly classified documents and dozens of computer disks detailing United States strategies in the event of nuclear war, major developments in military weapons technologies, information on active espionage cases, and many other aspects of the United States Intelligence Community's Soviet counterintelligence programme.
Hanssen was arrested on February 2001. On 6 July 2001 he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of espionage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Because he had entered into a plea agreement in which he agreed to co-operate with the United States government and submit to debriefings, he avoided the death sentence. His activities have, nevertheless, been described by the United States Department of Justice Commission for the Review of FBI Security Programs as possibly the worst intelligence disaster in the United States' history.
Then there is the case of Aldrich Hazen Ames, who was a Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst, who in 1994 was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. Ames could have faced the death penalty for his crimes. However, he pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life imprisonment. It is estimated that the information Ames provided to the Soviets led to the compromise of at least 100 United States intelligence operations and to the execution of at least 10 United States sources. There is one further character, namely Jonathan Pollard.