00:00National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hines was a featured speaker during the
00:04opening ceremony of day one of the three-day workshop titled Towards a
00:09Regional Approach to a Migration Policy in the Caribbean at the Trinidad Hilton
00:13Hotel. The International Organization for Migration is providing support for the
00:17workshop which is being hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat and the CARICOM
00:21Implementation Agency for Crime and Security. TV6 News spoke with the
00:26National Security Minister about a particular issue in dealing with
00:29migration and that issue being the sharing of intelligence between Trinidad
00:35and Tobago and its regional and international partners. Just last week
00:40Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley told the Parliament that an ongoing audit of
00:44Trinidad and Tobago's Strategic Services Agency the SSA has so far revealed there
00:50had been a plot by some who had been with that intelligence-gathering agency
00:54to replace the political leadership, a matter which has been described as a
00:58distraction by the government's political opponents. With the issue of
01:02migration in particular as you try of course the government state to deal with
01:07the issue of legal guns, ammunition, of those who as you said may be coming here
01:12to Trinidad and Tobago not in the best interest of Trinidad and Tobago, how is that
01:16working now as you deal with the issue overall of the SSA or intelligence
01:22gathering in general? You're quite right, intelligence is a very critical, it's the
01:27lifeblood of law enforcement, they have to know and therefore we in Trinidad and
01:32Tobago we have a number of operators in the sphere of intelligence and the
01:37premier agency in that regard is the SSA. Minister Hines has said the SSA is
01:41being quote fixed as we go along unquote under the leadership of its present
01:46director who he said is a very able servant of Trinidad and Tobago. The SSA
01:52is still able to conduct its core business of gathering intelligence and
01:58as Minister of National Security I affirm that it does. I receive daily
02:03reports and you know the normal things so the thing is happening that's in
02:09addition to the other intelligence gathering elements within the police
02:13service, the defense force and what have you in Trinidad and Tobago. The National
02:18Security Minister spoke about Trinidad and Tobago's international partners
02:21where intelligence sharing is concerned. We of course have relationships with
02:27other countries of the world, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, you
02:33follow? China, we have relations with all and therefore we in the normal course of
02:40events share information, share intelligence. The drugs that come in
02:45here, the guns that come in here, a lot of the techniques, a lot of the movement of
02:51people, it's very you know particularly in the business of money laundering and
02:56terrorist financing it does have transnational elements to it and
03:01therefore transnational responses are absolutely necessary. As you mentioned
03:06your international partners, have those international partners in terms of
03:10law enforcement and intelligence expressed any particular concerns about
03:15the recent developments concerning the SSE in particular? Not that I'm aware of.
03:22And where regional intelligence sharing is concerned, a unit many may not be
03:29aware of. Recently we established the CARICOM gang intelligence unit and now
03:38we have professionals, they're based here in Port of Spain, regional
03:42representatives working together, linking with their respective databases and
03:50intelligence gatherers in the respective islands, gathered together, sharing
03:55intelligence and I visited with them recently and I give you the assurance
03:59that they are on the job. Minister Hines said the CARICOM gang intelligence unit
04:03has had successes. Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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