Former CNI failed to fulfill responsibilities: Former Def.Sec.

Former Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) Sisira Mendis had failed to fulfil the responsibility assigned to him during the period of the former 'Yahapalana' government, a former Defence Secretary, Karunasena Hettiarachchi informed the PCoI probing the Easter Sunday attacks, on Thursday.

Testifying before the Commission he said, the CNI is the official in-charge of directing and overseeing the intelligence reports and agencies in the country.

"We wanted CNI to provide an intelligence analysis to all political and security heads represented National Security Council (NSC). However, we never received that," he said.

Explaining an intelligence analysis, Mr. Hettiarachchi said that it is an application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context.

"To make this analysis CNI could have sought expertise advice and their assistance. There are many sociologists, economists and statisticians who were willing to provide their assistance. Targeting the above purpose, the former government had also created Institute of National Security," he said.

When Commissioners questioned about the administrative relationship between the CNI and the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Mr. Hettiarachchi said that SIS had to send its intelligence reports to the CNI and the SIS could take instructions from the CNI.

Earlier, testifying before the Commission former CNI Director Sisira Mendis informed the Commission that even though he had served in the post before the terror attack, the then SIS Director Nilantha Jayawardena, had never sought any advice from him.

Former Defence Secretary Hettiarachchi also added that according to the current Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the law enforcement authorities could not take any legal action against terrorists and cyber crimes from other countries.

"To address the following issues, the former 'Yahapalana' government proposed the Counter-Terrorism Act (CTA) and it was tabled on Parliament in October 2018. However, the approval of the draft was still pending," Mr. Hettiarachchi said. (Yoshitha Perera)