Internal Security Operations Command

Internal Security Operations Command
กองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายในราชอาณาจักร

ISOC Office
Agency overview
Formed 1965[1]
Preceding agencies
  • Central Security Command (CSC)
  • Communist Suppression Operations Command (CSOC)
Type Government agency
Jurisdiction Nationwide
Headquarters Ruen Ruedi Palace, Nakhon Ratchasima Road, Dusit, Bangkok, Thailand
Motto "Asādhuṃ Sādhunā Jine" (Pāḷi)
("Conquer evil by the power of good")[2]
Annual budget 10,410.4 million baht (FY2017)
Minister responsible
Parent agency Office of the Prime Minister
Key document
Website www.isocthai.go.th

The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) (Thai: กองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายในราชอาณาจักร; RTGS: kong am nuai kan raksa khwam man khong phai nai ) or ISOC (Thai: กอ.รมน.; RTGS: kooromono) is the political arm of the Thai military.[3] It was responsible for suppression of leftist groups during the 1970s and 1980s during which it was implicated in atrocities against activists and civilians. ISOC was implicated in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. After Thaksin was deposed in a military coup, the junta transformed the ISOC into a "government within a government", giving it wide-reaching authority over the National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). The junta also authorized it to help provincial authorities in marketing OTOP products.[4] In June 2007, the junta approved a draft national security bill which gave ISOC sweeping powers to handle "new forms of threats" to the country. The ISOC revamp modelled it after the US Department of Homeland Security, and gave ISOC sweeping new powers to allow the ISOC chief to implement security measures such as searches without seeking approval from the prime minister.[5] As of June 2007, ISOC was headed by Army Commander-in-Chief and junta head General Sonthi Boonyaratglin. ISOC operates under the aegis of the Office of the Prime Minister.[6]

ISOC's FY2017 budget is 10,410.4 million baht.[7]:80 ISOC has about 5,000-6,000 staff nationwide, excluding those working in the south, and there are 500,000-600,000 internal security volunteers, as well as tens of thousands of people in its information network.[8]

Communist Suppression Operations Command

The Communist Suppression Operations Command (CSOC) was established in 1965[1] with the assistance of the United States to coordinate nationwide anti-communist operations.[9][10]

Following the 17 November 1971 coup by military dictators Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien, Praphas appointed himself interior minister, chief of police, and head of CSOC.

The CSOC was implicated in several atrocities in its 1970s war against leftist groups. This included the Red Drum Massacre, the mass murder of southern Thai activists by burning them alive in gasoline drums.

Student leader Thirayuth Boonmee showed evidence that the destruction of Ban Na Sai village, Bueng Kan District, Nong Khai Province (As of 2011, Bueng Kan Province) in northeast Thailand[11] was the handiwork of the CSOC.[12] The military had earlier claimed that the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) was responsible for the village's destruction.

CSOC's name was changed to ISOC in 1974.[1]

Operations during the 1970s

ISOC conducted operations in cities and the Thai countryside to subvert leftist groups through propaganda and violence.[13] In 1973, the ISOC commenced a bombing campaign against hill tribe villages in northern Thailand.

Prime Minister to-be Prem Tinsulanonda was a senior officer of the ISOC.

ISOC's role declined starting in the early-1980s after the downfall of the CPT. However, it still had great influence. On 1 April 1987, after Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj claimed that ISOC had been brainwashed by communists, over 200 Thai Army Rangers attacked the prime minister's residence.[14]

Plot to assassinate Thaksin Shinawatra

ISOC Deputy Director Pallop Pinmanee was sacked[15] after Lieutenant Thawatchai Klinchana,[16] his driver, was found driving a car containing 67 kilograms of explosives near the residence of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Pallop denied all involvement, noting that "If I was behind it, I would not have missed."[17] Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Lt General Wiroj Jantharangsee noted that the explosives in the car were completely assembled, equipped with a remote sensor ready to be detonated, and would have had a blast radius of around one kilometre.

Post-2006-coup ISOC

Thaksin planned a major restructuring of the ISOC prior to the coup which overthrew him in September 2006. Soon after the coup, the junta released three army suspects in the car bomb plot.[18] Junta leader and Army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin appointed himself head of ISOC (its previous head had been the prime minister) and transformed ISOC into a "government within a government". The new ISOC was criticized as being a shadowy puppet master pulling the strings of existing agencies, answerable to no one but its leader.[19]

To protect people in south Thailand from insurgency-related violence, ISOC produced Jatukham Rammathep amulets for distribution to the Buddhist minority. The renowned animist amulets were believed to have magical powers to protect their wearers from violence and large sums are paid for them. The plan was developed by Colonel Manas Khongpan, deputy director of ISOC in Yala Province.[20]

The cabinet of General Surayud Chulanont gave 732 ISOC staff members an 84.3 million baht "reward" in mid-2007. ISOC explained that police and soldiers were temporarily transferred to support ISOC's operation. ISOC wanted to reward them for their hard work and sacrifice. ISOC had originally requested the reward in 2003, but was turned down by the Thaksin government.[21]

Bases

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Pawakapan, Puangthong R. (November 2017). "The Central Role of Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command in the Post-Counterinsurgency Period" (PDF). Trends in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Yusof Ishak Institute (17). ISBN 978-981-4786-81-2. ISSN 0219-3213. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  2. ↑ ประกาศสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง กำหนดภาพเครื่องหมายราชการ ตามพระราชบัญญัติเครื่องหมายราชการ พุทธศักราช ๒๔๘๒ (ฉบับที่ ๒๖๘) ลงวันที่ 9 กรกฎาคม 2555 [Announcement of the Office of the Prime Minister on Determination of Official Symbol under the Official Symbols Act, Buddhist Era 2482 (1939), (No. 268) dated 9 July 2012] (pdf). Government Gazette (in Thai). Cabinet Secretariat. 129 (Special 130 D): 19. 2012-08-27. Retrieved 2013-10-23.
  3. ↑ "Thailand's Deep State—The Military". Asia Sentinel. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Bangkok Post, CNS advises extended term for AEC, 14 February 2007
  5. ↑ "Cabinet approves security bill". Bangkok Post. 2007-06-20. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Agencies under OPM". Office of the Prime Minister. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Thailand's Budget in Brief, Fiscal Year 2017 (PDF). Bureau of the Budget (Thailand). 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Raksaseri, Kornchanok (8 January 2018). "Isoc power boost 'not political'". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Lee, Terence C (28 February 2005). "The Causes of Military Insubordination: Explaining Military Organizational Behavior in Thailand" (PDF). Presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association Honolulu, Hawaii, March 2005. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  10. ↑ Murray, Charles (November 1984). "The Domino That Didn't Fall; Why in a Country Riven by Coups Did an Apparently Robust and Growing Insurgency Collapse?". Atlantic Monthly. Contemporary Thinkers: 34. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "THE BAN NA SAI AFFAIR BECOMES A CAUSE CELEBRE". Public Library of US Diplomacy. Wikileaks. 1974-02-15. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  12. ↑ Anderson, Benedict, "Murder and Progress in Modern Siam"
  13. ↑ Handley, Paul M (2006). The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006. p. 222. ISBN 0300106823. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  14. ↑ "THAILAND -". Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "'Fake bomb' at Thai leader's home". BBC News. 28 August 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "'Bomb' found near Thai PM's home". BBC News. 2006-08-24. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "'If I was behind it, PM would be dead'". The Nation. 2006-08-25. Archived from the original on 2011-11-05. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  18. ↑ "Car-bomb suspects get bail". The Nation. 2006-09-30. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  19. ↑ The Nation, Thailand's Dept of Homeland Security Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine., 12 December 2006
  20. ↑ The Nation, Amulets to 'help protect' Buddhists in South Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine., 14 March 2007
  21. ↑ "Cabinet backs B84.3m in Isoc 'rewards'". Bangkok Post. 2007-07-23. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  22. ↑ "Outgoing and new Army chiefs visit Pattani". The Nation. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
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