Military intelligence of Myanmar

Office of Chief of Military Security Affairs (OCMSA) စစ်ဘက်ရေးရာ လုံခြုံရေးအရာရှိချုပ်ရုံး (စရခ), commonly referred to by its Burmese acronym Sa Ya Pa (Sa Aa Pa in S'gaw Karen), is a branch of the Myanmar armed forces tasked with intelligence gathering. It was created to replace the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI), which was disbanded in 2004.[1]

OCMSA is charged with handling political issues, and had played a central role in monitoring the 2007 popular protests in Myanmar; coordinating widespread arrests of protesters and their interrogation. Human Rights Watch reported that as part of its interrogation process, OCMSA uses sleep deprivation and condones the beating and kicking of detainees until they are unconscious.[2]

Notable former commanders of OCMSA include Vice President Lieutenant General (Ret.) Myint Swe, Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy and Airforce) General Mya Tun Oo and Union Minister for Home Affairs Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe. As of September 2016, OCMSA is headed by Lieutenant General Soe Htut.[3] Brig.-Gen Tin Oo (no relation to Gen. Tin Oo) was trained by the CIA on the Pacific island of Saipan and went on to run one of the most feared and effective military intelligence spy networks in Asia throughout the 1970s and ’80s.[4]

Chiefs
Office Name Head Term
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Lwin 1959–1969
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Chit Khin 1969–1972
Directorate of Military Intelligence Brigadier General Tin Oo 1972–1978
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Aung Htay 1978–1980
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Myo Aung 1980–1982
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Kan Nyunt 1982–1983 May
Directorate of Military Intelligence Colonel Aung Koe 1983 May -1983 September
Directorate of Defence Service Intelligence / Office of Chief of Military Intelligence ( OCMI ) Lieutenant General / General Khin Nyunt 1983 September–2004 October
Chief of Office of Chief of Military Security Affair Lieutenant General Myint Swe 2004–2005
Chief of Office of Chief of Military Security Affair Lieutenant General Ye Myint 2005–2010
Chief of Office of Chief of Military Security Affair Lieutenant General Kyaw Swe 2010–2014
Chief of Office of Chief of Military Security Affair Lieutenant General Mya Tun Oo 2014–2016
Chief of Office of Chief of Military Security Affair Lieutenant General Soe Htut 2016–present

References
  1. Paing, Yan (September 9, 2014). "Burmese Military Reshuffle Sees New Security Chief Appointed". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  2. "Crackdown: Repression of the 2007 Popular Protests in Burma". Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  3. Paing, Yan (September 9, 2014). "Burmese Military Reshuffle Sees New Security Chief Appointed". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
  4. "US House Backs Measures to Sanction Myanmar's Military, Nudge Gem Sector Reform". The Irrawaddy. 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.