Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers Takes Over the National Intelligence Service
The Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, formally delegated his powers over the National Intelligence Service (SNI/NIS) to the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, through Dispatch No. 01/PM/1/2025, published on January 20, 2025. 
The order states that this decision takes into consideration “the importance to ensure an effective supervision in monitoring the National Intelligence Service in its important mission of producing information that contributes to safeguarding independence and national interests, internal and external security, and the prevention of terrorism, espionage and organized crime.”
Immediately reform and restructure the National Intelligence Service, to guarantee integrity and professionalism in this institution”, was one of the commitments made by the Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, in the speech given on July 1, 2023, at the inauguration of the IX Constitutional Government. In fulfilment of this commitment, on September 5, 2023, Minister Agio Pereira, representing the Prime Minister, swore in Longuinhos Rabindranath Tagore Domingues de Castro Monteiro and Egas de Araújo Moniz as Director-General and Deputy Director-General, respectively, of the National Intelligence Service. 
At the inauguration ceremony of the new leadership of the SNI, Minister Agio Pereira highlighted that “intelligence, as an extremely sensitive service of the State, is not a precise science, it is more of an art whose evolution requires a lot of discipline, creativity and innovation”. 
