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The Liberian National Police (LNP) sits in the core of our national security machinery. And this is why we make the case that it cannot be run by someone who has already admitted he is inexperienced to do the job. The question is how effectively can a rookie cop coordinate the central nerve of our national security system with no security experience or the required managerial competencies? Only someone with the overarching understanding can effectively coordinate the responsibilities of LNP.
The discreditable performance of the just replaced police boss is the service call that her successor must be a strategist with exceptional leadership track record in security administration. No one should interpret longevity of service as the only basis for leading the police.
In my opinion, anyone appointed to replace the outgoing police chief must have the professional know-how to secure the public. Does this sound like something a skewed security rookie who hopes to feed on the knowledge of others can handle? I wonder what on him attracted those who recommended him for the post. Was it because he sells oxygen canisters, or his background in agriculture? The stakes are high. UNMIL is scaling down its presence; criminal armed gangs are reinforcing their grips on our inner communities, traffic is in disarray, ex-soldiers and sleeper cells yearn for the opportunity to wreck havoc, unemployment is high, and so on. How effective can an inexperienced appointee handle all of these complex national security matters?
For most part, our borders are vulnerable. For instance, in Grand Cape Mount County, an initial assessment reveals a vulnerability of over forty-nine unmanned access points of entry. The visibility of Police presence is rare. In some areas, there is a large presence of aliens from the Mano River sub-region that seem to exist in isolation of security supervision and national authority. The trade and movement of narcotics are increasing. In addition, under the Poverty Reduction Strategy, decentralization is widely preached but not followed. Important county security matters are handled only in Monrovia. Our police unit in Grand Cape Mount County is ill trained and ill-equipped to handle complex security situations. In fact, the county has an acting commander who is a patrolman (Private).
In addition to these complex realities, a number of security agencies are performing overlapping functions. For instance, NSA and DEA perform functions that are done by LNP. But without a formidable national security strategy or the adherence of one, heads of competing agencies must employ professional managerial competences to coordinate the complex national security responsibilities. No amount of inexperienced adventure can handle these.
Besides, Rand Corporation maintains that multiple security services are breeding grounds for politicization and corruption. There are strong arguments that there is the need to eliminate a number of the security agencies with overlapping functions. The CPA addressed this concern to some extent.
Despite attempts made to address this issue, the fact remains that there are just too many security agencies within our national security sector performing the same functions.
The creation of the National Security Council (NSC) on March 12, 1999 by an act of Legislature, it seems, was an attempt to address this issue of proliferation of security agencies. NSC’s responsibilities include, identifying the national security goal of the nation as it relates to national power, initiating and discussing proposed national security policies, including alternative courses of action for onwards submission to the president for timely action; under the directive of the president, NSC is to constitute, organize and supervise other security agencies on the coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence and sensitive information necessary to fulfill the role of the Council.
Invariably, the act also provides for a presidential security advisor who coordinates all activities of the Council including planning of meetings, preparing agenda, recording of minutes, and others. The act which created the NSC made no reference to preexisting acts that created earlier agencies still on the books. Most of these acts were enacted under different administrations. Consequently, there is a cost effect associated with these multiple agencies, the overlapping functions among them may lead to unnecessary tensions and strife among the various personnel of the agencies at a significant cost to the tax payer.
With all of these, no one can effectively cut back on Liberia’s security sector until the government adheres to the national security agenda put forward by the Governance Reform Commission, or come up with an alternative agenda and the appropriate complementary legislation and policy documents.
A recent government of Liberia (GOL) capacity building effort held in Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County emphasizes the need to capacitate all of our public institutions. This shows that our security sector is not the only area in disarray. Any attempt to cut back on it will sharply undermine and perhaps adversely impact the efforts by GOL and our international partners to train and rebuild Liberia’s national security segment. There is a strong need to have efficient monitoring and oversight mechanisms on all of the national security agencies.
The issue of effective oversight mechanisms is confused or confusing in most of our security agencies. Effective oversight addresses the question of line of command or authority, hiring and firing powers and reporting chains. Take the Ministry of Justice for instance which supposedly has de jure oversight of the NSA and LNP but practically has little authority over them. When I served at the Ministry of Defense back in the eighties and nineties, both the LNP and NSA easily and consistently bypassed the Ministry of Justice and reported directly to the President.
There are indications that the NSC which should be coordinating presidential intelligence among all security agencies, especially within the MOD, SSS, LNP and NSA is constantly bypassed by these agencies and directly report to the president. The recent appointments of an indicted murderer to head the department of economic crimes at NSA, and the two or so years of service by a Deputy Director of BIN who has not been confirmed by the Liberian House of Senate perhaps put a dent on the effectiveness of the NSC or our honorable legislature. This means that those with closer ties to the president can do whatever they can.
Author’s Note: This monograph is an excerpt from a national security paper written by Ret Colonel Edmond R. Gray, a former intelligence officer of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Mr. Gray is currently a Senior Executive Staff of the Civil Service Agency of Liberia, with over twenty years of security experience. He holds a Masters in Public Administration and a Masters in Strategic Management, from the Hamline University School of Management in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, a Bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Liberia, and a Certificate in Political Socialization and Psychological Warfare from the Fu Hsing Kang War College, a Certificate in Public Dispute Resolution from the Hamline School of Management, USA, A Certificate in Security from the prestigious School for Security and African Studies of the South African Military Academy. He is presently a Public Policy student pursuing a PhD with emphasis in Criminal Justice at Walden University. Col. Gray can be reached at remiegray@gmail.com
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