Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa

The "Sistema de Informações da República Portuguesa" (SIRP, Intelligence System of the Portuguese Republic) is the coordinating structure of Portuguese intelligence. It is the parent body for two separate intelligence services: the "Serviço de Informações de Segurança" (SIS, Security Intelligence Service) Portugal's intelligence agency for internal security, and the "Serviço de Informações Estratégicas de Defesa" (SIED, Defense Strategic Intelligence Service) for strategic intelligence.

Until 1974, the main intelligence agency in Portugal was the PIDE - "Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado" (International and State Defense Police). Nominally under jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice, PIDE was in fact a secret police force controlled directly by Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. In 1968, under Salazar's successor Marcello Caetano, PIDE was renamed the "Direcção Geral de Segurança" (DGS, General Security Directorate) and underwent some reform. Following a coup by the Portuguese military in 1974 the agency was immediately abolished due to the abhorrence felt for the PIDE/DGS as a tool of the authoritarian regime.

Because of the memory of the abuses of the PIDE/DGS in supporting the regime the establishment of a new civilian intelligence agency was delayed for more than a decade. However, following a terrorist attack on the Embassy of Turkey and the assassination of a Palestine Liberation Organization representative at a Socialist International conference in 1983, and a number of domestic terrorist attacks, the Portuguese government became convinced of the need for a new intelligence agency. This led to the establishment of SIRP in 1984.

See also

*List of intelligence agencies
*Serviços de Informações de Segurança
*PIDE

External links

* [http://www.sied.pt/ Official Website of SIED]
* [http://www.sis.pt/en/index.php Official Website of SIS]