Changes to the Security Services Act are expected soon, as yesterday the courts continued to nullify interceptions made by the MSS with the approval of the Minister of Home Affairs. Currently, under the law, interceptions made by the MSS are approved by the Minister, and the Court has already issued rulings on this matter that highlight the unconstitutionality of the law.
These sentences are mainly being issued with constitutional challenges made by the criminal lawyer Franco Debono in defending his clients, who mostly, are dangerous criminals and drug dealers who had their communications intercepted by the MSS or the Police.
Transferring the responsibility for approving interceptions from the Minister to the Prosecutor or the Judiciary is an obvious and logical outcome to this legal issue apart from taking away more power from the Labour power that has been using the police and the security services for its own ends.
A future government should also think of a serious overhaul of the security services to turn them into a non-partisan and independent unit that looks out for the national security of the nation in all its aspects. On matters of national security, the government should not relinquish its emergency and security powers. This is why it’s crucial to have a non-partisan security service, as partisanship undermines its very purpose and erodes trust in all authorities.
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