In order to strengthen personnel loyalty, the National Security Council proposed five major improvements this year; the picture shows National Security Council Secretary-General Wu Zhaoxie. (File photo)
In order to strengthen personnel loyalty, the National Security Council drew on the experience of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries in responding to the CCP's infiltration, and proposed five major improvements this year, including expanding the number of special investigation targets to advisory committee members and assistants, increasing the frequency and density of inspections, adding review committees to increase the level of deliberation, timely adjustments to business access permissions, and implementing trace control of information access.
The Legislative Yuan Judiciary and Legislative Affairs Committee recently proposed freezing the National Security Council’s “consulting and research business” budget of NT$4 million, requiring that the methods and standards for preventing infiltration and the advisory committee’s written report on the results of the inspection based on the prevention of infiltration should be proposed within three months. The budget can only be spent after approval. In response, the National Security Council has sent a written report to the Legislative Yuan to strive for a budget unfreeze.
The National Security Council report pointed out that in addition to complying with the provisions of the "Special Verification Measures for Public Officials Involved in National Security or Major Interests" (hereinafter referred to as the "Special Verification Measures"), the National Security Council also formulated its own "National Security Council Personnel Verification Operation Key Points" as a reference for practical implementation, and proposed five major improvements this year:
1. Expand the subjects of special investigation. In addition to the subjects applicable to the special investigation method, personnel handling sensitive business in each office, including advisory committee members, confidential personnel, consulting assistants, and personnel involved in sensitive business (such as information security), etc., are all subjects of special investigation.
2. Increase the frequency of inspections. In addition to being required to undergo inspections upon arrival, starting from 2026, employees will also receive regular inspections at different frequencies depending on the degree of job closeness.
3. Collegial review of review results: If the personnel under review meet the circumstances listed in Article 3 of the Special Investigation Measures, in addition to reporting to the review committee for review, a separate review committee will be set up to increase the review level and review their qualifications for the position.
4. Timely adjustment of business contact density: Regularly review the allocation of sensitive business, strengthen the control of personnel contact density, and link the contact density level with the frequency of inspections.
5. Control of information access traces: All access to information by the National Security Council’s computers is traceable, and all communication equipment is strictly controlled and not allowed to be brought into sensitive meetings to avoid the leakage of official information.
The National Security Council emphasized that although the advisory members are not specifically applicable to the special investigation method, they are still required to sign a consent form and affirmation for special inspections before accepting the inspection. In order to improve their awareness of risk prevention, the National Security Council Advisory Committee will undergo inspections every year starting from 2025, which is higher than the frequency set by the Executive Yuan that "the inspections should be re-inspected every three years of continuous holding of positions subject to special inspections." In addition, last year's audits were completed with the help of the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, and there were no items listed in the checklist. The National Security Council has always had strict requirements on the national loyalty and moral character of its personnel.
