Commission that oversees Abin gains attention from Congress – 03/26/2023 – Power

Virtually forgotten since it was created in 2013, the Intelligence Activity Control Commission (CCAI) gained the attention of Congress after the January 8 attacks and the political use of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) during the Jair government. Bolsonaro (PL).

Last year, CCAI held only one meeting — in a remote format and just over nine minutes long. The meeting was hurriedly convened in November after Abin officials themselves warned Congress that they could lose resources in the 2023 Budget.

The scenario is similar to that of previous years. In 2021, for example, federal deputies and senators held only five meetings – the first of which was to formalize the installation of the mixed commission.

This year, however, parliamentarians do not hide their interest in the group. CCAI has, for example, a confidential report sent by the GSI (Institutional Security Office) with the intelligence information gathered before the attack on the headquarters of the three Powers.

“Now we realize that intelligence activity is a very serious thing for Congress not to act on. What contributed to this? January 8 was the most decisive factor”, says Senator Esperidião Amin (PP-SC), who chaired the CCAI in 2022 and requested the information from the GSI.

“[Teve também] this recent news of that contract that allows following [indivíduos] by cell phone. People were scared of possible distortions in use”, he adds, saying that Parliament’s interest in cyber defense issues has also grown in recent years.

Author of the resolution that created the CCAI a decade ago, when he was president of the Senate, senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), vice-president of the mixed commission, intends to “concrete the operation” this year.

“I made the internal regiment, I know the need for it to function in order to control the intelligence agencies, which exceed 40. It’s not just Abin. It has to function permanently as [funcionam as] committees for the control of intelligence activities in all the Parliaments of the world”, he says.

Renan Calheiros claims that, in addition to listening to the next Abin director-general, he wants to call other former directors of the agency to “find out what Abin has effectively done in recent years”. “It has to be an intelligence agency, not a gossip agency,” he adds.

In 2021, Abin was accused of producing reports to defend Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) in the alleged “cracks” scheme in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro.

Still under Bolsonaro, commanded by current deputy Alexandre Ramagem (PL-RJ), a friend of the then presidential family, Abin, according to an investigation by the Federal Police, acted to disrupt an investigation against Jair Renan, the 04th son of the former president.

The agency was also triggered by Bolsonaro to try to collect information that could support his conspiracy theories about fraud in electronic voting machines.

Officials who accompany the commission with power to supervise the body claim that the transfer of Abin from the GSI to the Civil House also aroused the attention of Congress, in addition to the debate that took place in the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

The committee is made up of 12 parliamentarians: the majority and minority leaders of the two Houses, plus one name nominated by each of the four, the chairpersons of the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees and representatives elected by the collegiate of each. of these commissions.

Renan, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and majority leader, will have even more influence over the CCAI. The Senate still does not know how to resolve the senator’s dual participation, but should suggest that he nominate one of the deputy majority leaders.

Thus, the senator from Alagoas must not only participate in the committee this year and chair it in the next, but also directly appoint two other members —making him responsible for half of the vacancies to which the Senate is entitled.

The senator claims that this “is a coincidence that life reserves” and that he does not want to exercise a double vote. According to him, the House will still find the best regimental solution.

The president of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chamber and of the CCAI, federal deputy Paulo Alexandre Barbosa (PSDB-SP), has already met with Renan and reinforces that the intelligence commission will move forward this year.

“It is a commission provided for in the bylaws. I cannot assess the reasons why it did not work in previous years, but I can guarantee that it will work. It is a strategic commission for Congress”, he says.

So far, only three other parliamentarians are defined, in addition to Renan and Barbosa: senator and former minister of Bolsonaro Ciro Nogueira (PP-AL), for being leader of the minority in the Senate; deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), leader of the minority in the Chamber; and deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), leader of the majority.

Intelligence activities are also in the crosshairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Esperidião Amin intends to invite former Abin deputy director Saulo Moura da Cunha, who headed the Agency on January 8, to provide information.