Singapore intelligence agents in foreign countries?

tankee1981 SG

I have heard that there is a foreign version of the ISD which is being controlled by Mindef instead of Ministry of Home Affairs. Does any one have any more info? Very Happy

Shotgun SG

erm….. u think u’ll get any here? LOL!

LRRP SG

Pls observe OPSEC.

Obersturmfuhrer SG

Yah we have that in MINDEF. The group is called the goon squad. Laughing

touchstone_2000 SG

Yes, it is called Security and Intelligence D-something.

Mentioned by LKY in one of his National Day speeches. It was during the Malaysian period of invasion paranoia.

Somebody was wearing SAF boots while jungle trekking.

There are other occasions when they appeared in the news, but giving a cite is not easy. They are exactly listed in the Internet you know.

Hmm with a bit of innovative searching, seems they are listed

http://www.mindef.gov.sg/etc/medialib/imindef_media_library/pdf.Par.0010.File.tmp/MINDEF_Terminology.pdf

Shotgun SG

Isn't SID (President Nathan formerly head of) the analysis division itself? As in they are not the organisation actually training and sending out the people.

The operational side, is not a "formal" organisation under mindef (unlike SID) itself i think. Government and non-government at the same time? hahaha sounds like some conspiracy theory hor?

WHO WHO?! Who used SAF boots to go jungle trekking?! That notti boy!

tankee1981 SG

Yes i have heard of SID but if its not under Mindef or Ministry of internal affairs then under what? Under the direct control of Minister of defence or Prime Minister? Very Happy

Shotgun SG

lol! pls dun misunderstand. I believe they are all under mindef. SID, or wadever. Just that the wadevers are possibly operating under a pseudo identity. Hence, this so called “foreign version of ISD” doesn’t “exist.”

Marco_Simone SG

When I was about to finish my honours,this dept came to give us a briefing try to jio us go interview.

It's a civilian dept mostly concerned with paperwork such as research and analysis but there is a "direct action" subunit.I saw pictures of this "direct action" unit in the briefing.

I was given a pamphlet of this unit but I threw it away liao.Not interested la. Wink

ditzy SG

They exist, they get paid highly and they travel very frequently on short notices. I was told by someone, once you're in there, its very hard to quit the job, its like joining the triads. Laughing

specfore SG

Actually,I would not bother to speculate whether Singapore has covert units or not. I believe if the SAF wants to be modern , flexible and from its history has mostly followed the US and Isreali doctrine... you can bet that we will have units like the Mossad or the covert US group ( even more covert than Delta Force).

Many, many years ago, no one thot we had the equivalent of the SAS ... but now our SOF is pretty open knowledge.

Now we have the first Military intel battalion.... from what I read, it seems that it is modeled after the UK's 14 th Intelligence Co...

We Singaporeans are great at taking ideas from others and adapting... so I am not surprised... whatever you can guess exists in other foreign forces , I am sure we have something equivalent.

Shotgun SG

Hard to quit, well, in a way lar.

Supposedly can quit any time u want. Just need to give notice. Basically the pay is machiam SAF contract pay, but just that u can quit anytime. But from wad i understandt, there is a "declassification" period. Naturally, this kinda sensitive jobs, they will take a while to "de-class" you.

Yeah, the "direct action" sub unit is dam cool lar. Get to travel and see the world, meet new people. Unfortunately, as with this kinda work, u'll suddenly find ur current social circle shrink a lot, as u will not be who u were before. Win some lose some.

LazerLordz SG

5 years de-classification period.

Certain courses in NUS attract their presence during recruitment. Wink

CX SG

what rubbish Rolling Eyes

its absolutely not true... nowadays, all govt depts operate under the same assumption: staff turnover exists... if u hire pple and expect them to stay all their life, all you'll get is disappointment.

especially true if u're hiring fresh grads... particularly true for their researchers and analysts positions.

if u're doing something sensitive, they'll just have to de-sensitise u for a season before letting u go. no big deal.

and the pay is just normal civil service pay... if u go overseas a lot, u'll get allowance... that probably makes it seem higher.

if u watch "the recruit", al pacino's speech to the newbie C.T was right on mark... it ain't the women, it ain't the money... there's nothing romantic or dramatic about the life. its just a job... its what u do.

Shotgun SG

I'm not sure about you... but I figured the pay was quite decent. I'm not sure if i shud talk about how much exactly... But, that was just the basic pay... not inclusive of travel allowance and wadever extra allowance allotted for the duty. All in all, quite comfortable.

CX SG

Entry level Division 1 pay backet is above average, but not extravagant... just check out how much teachers are paid... its slightly higher than normal MXO scheme.

A good banker can more than that that before he's 30... more glam too...

Shotgun SG

Gee, I'm not sure if we are referring to the same post. The one I'm aware of is the more "direct action" one. It is definitely not a glam job. Glam would only get one into trouble. Their entry level for O'level holder was comparable for Diploma holders. I'm assuming its similarly much higher for degree holders etc.

Naturally, I guess those degree holders won't be in the "direct action" role?

LazerLordz SG

Hmm.I've heard that the direct action chaps are not exclusively graduates or not?

CX SG

ah... probably justified as a "hazard allowance" ... Mr. Green fair enough...

last i heard from them, they're pretty open about putting a good mix of pple into those roles... its not whether they will have u... its whether u can hack it Twisted Evil

what i meant about glam is that u get more glam working in a bank than if u were working in THAT place... definitely not my cup of tea...

Shotgun SG

Yeah. I will agree on that. Its a severe lifestyle change and not everybody can take it. Definitely takes a special breed of ppl to do such stuff.