Wards of the Lula administration differ on military or civilian in the GSI – 04/20/2023 – Power

After the departure of General Gonçalves Dias from the command of the GSI (Institutional Security Office), wings of the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) differ on whether to keep a military man or put a civilian in charge of the folder.

The assistants who defend keeping the ministry under the command of the military believe that this is the alternative that will bring less trauma and political noise.

They fear that removing a general to put a civilian in the post could reopen a crisis with the barracks. The Lula government sought to appease the feelings with the military, but the first four months of the mandate were marked by the resignation of the then commander of the Army, General Júlio Cesar de Arruda.

Government members who defend a civilian at the head of the GSI support a complete restructuring of the ministry. The assessment is that it is necessary to set up a special secretariat with a robust configuration, but under the command of someone outside the military environment.

If Lula chooses to maintain the structure with a military man, the main name quoted is that of General Valério Stumpf Trindade, currently in reserve and at the head of Poupex.

He held the second highest position in the internal hierarchy, the General Staff of the Army, but left the corporation when Tomás Paiva became Commander of the Army. By military rules, the commander cannot have any senior military officer among his subordinates.

Stumpf is respected among the military. He was already executive secretary of the GSI during the management of Michel Temer (MDB) and in the first months of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government. He also served in the portfolio during the management of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) and in the first year of the Lula 1 government.

This Wednesday (19), the PT candidate also appointed Ricardo Capelli, a civilian, a former security officer in the Federal District, to lead the GSI on an interim basis.

There are those who defend, for example, the name of the former minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Ricardo Lewandowski and that of the president of the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Aloizio Mercadante.

The hypothesis of putting the GSI under the command of a civilian had already been floated since the transition, when there was an arm-wrestling between the military and members of the Federal Police for the body —especially for presidential security and Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency).

The assessment is that it is a remnant of the period of the military dictatorship; and that in other countries both this area and the security of the Chief Executive are under the supervision of civilians.

The central problem was distrust of the structure of the GSI inherited from the Bolsonaro government. In the previous management, the cabinet was commanded by General Augusto Heleno, one of the assistants most identified with Bolsonarism.

Members of Lula’s team were also uncomfortable with the militarization of the intelligence that advises the president.

Mistrust led the GSI to be excluded from the president-elect’s security, as is customary. In addition, early in the administration, he lost the assignment of approximate presidential security. Only the presidential patrimony remained.

At the beginning of the mandate, there were doubts whether or not Abin should remain under the tutelage of the palace military. After the episodes of January 8, the thesis defended by those who wanted the agency out of the GSI gained strength. Last month, she was transferred to the Civil House of Minister Rui Costa (PT).

Amid the recent reorganizations of the body, Gonçalves Dias resisted some pressures and kept under his tutelage secretariats dealing with cybersecurity and nuclear energy, for example.

Its fall now reopens an internal dispute over the structure that the folder should assume.