MANILA – Malacañang on Tuesday stated that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has re-organized the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) to adapt to the evolving threats to national security.
The President, through Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, signed Executive Order (EO) 54 on January 19, directing the reorganization of the NICA to strengthen the agency’s intelligence gathering and analysis.
“There is a need to reorganize the NICA to adapt to the evolving threats to national security and ensure a more vigorous intelligence collection, intensify internal and external coordination with foreign and domestic counterparts, and prepare intelligence and security assessments and estimates using data analytics to ensure national security and promote national interest,” the President said in his order.
The NICA was created through EO 246.
As the main component of its reorganization, EO 54 established the Office of the Deputy Director General (ODDG) for Cyber and Emerging Threats tasked to provide direction to overall planning, supervision and coordination of the NICA on counter-intelligence and counter-measures against cybersecurity threats, weapons of mass destruction, and other emerging threats.
The ODDG for Cyber and Emerging Threats will be headed by a Deputy Director General with the rank of Assistant Secretary to be appointed by the President and shall be composed of the Directorate for Counterintelligence and Security and Directorate for Cyberintelligence and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction.
The EO, which was released to the public on Tuesday, takes effect immediately.
