Govt proposes creating intelligence ombudsman

The government on Thursday submitted a proposal to parliament for establishing a new authority, intelligence ombudsman, to oversee the legality of civilian and military intelligence gathering.

The oversight system needs to be reformed, because the proposed new intelligence legislation would give new and significant intelligence-gathering tasks and powers to the civilian and military intelligence authorities, said an official press release.

According to the proposal, the intelligence oversight system would consist of both parliamentary oversight and an intelligence ombudsman responsible for the oversight of legality.

The aim is to organise the oversight of intelligence gathering so that it meets the requirement of effective and independent oversight.

Covert intelligence-gathering methods interfere with the basic rights of individuals, in particular the protection of private life and the secrecy of confidential communications.

According to the proposal, trust in the appropriateness of intelligence gathering and in the realisation of legal protection of individuals would be ensured by efficient organisation of the oversight of legality and a strong mandate and powers to the oversight bodies.

A new parliamentary special committee, Intelligence Oversight Committee, would exercise parliamentary oversight of intelligence gathering. Establishing the committee requires amendments to parliament’s Rules of Procedure, and the Speaker’s Council has drawn up a separate proposal on the matter.

The new act on the oversight of intelligence gathering would lay down provisions on the right of the Intelligence Oversight Committee to access information and receive reports. The committee would have an extensive right of access to information and the right to receive reports on intelligence gathering from the intelligence ombudsman and other authorities and other parties performing public tasks.

The intelligence ombudsman would function in connection with the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman and would be an independent and autonomous authority. The ombudsman would be responsible for overseeing the legality of the use of intelligence-gathering methods and the realisation of fundamental and human rights in intelligence-gathering activities. The intelligence ombudsman would have a strong mandate and effective powers to conduct oversight of legality.

The intelligence ombudsman would be appointed by the government for a maximum of five years at a time. The duties and powers of the new ombudsman would not restrict the oversight powers of the supreme overseers of legality, i.e. the chancellor of justice and the parliamentary ombudsman, or the other special ombudsmen.

The intelligence ombudsman would have an extensive right of access to information and the right to receive reports on intelligence gathering from authorities and other parties performing public administrative tasks. The ombudsman could also conduct inspections on the premises of authorities and other parties performing public administrative tasks.

The intelligence ombudsman could order the use of a certain intelligence-gathering method to be suspended or terminated, if the ombudsman considers that the authority has acted unlawfully in the course of gathering intelligence. To suspend or terminate the use of intelligence-gathering methods that require court authorisation, the intelligence ombudsman could issue an interim order, which should be referred without delay for consideration by the court that issued the authorisation. The court should decide on the matter urgently.

The intelligence ombudsman could also order that unlawfully gathered intelligence data must be destroyed without delay. If the intelligence ombudsman deems that a party subject to oversight has acted unlawfully, the ombudsman could report the case to the competent criminal investigation authority.

The intelligence ombudsman would also monitor and assess the functioning of the legislation in its field and propose improvements as deemed necessary. The ombudsman would report annually to parliament, the parliamentary ombudsman and the government on its activities.

The intelligence ombudsman could also issue separate reports on issues deemed important. The ombudsman should use own initiative to report any significant oversight findings to the parliamentary intelligence oversight committee for consideration.