General Department of Military Intelligence (Vietnam)

Tổng cục Tình báo, other names: Tổng cục 2, TC2 (translated variously as General Department of Military Intelligence or Second General Department) is an intelligence agency of Vietnam.

History

Organisation

The current Director of TC2 is Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Hung.

TC2 is an official department of the Ministry of Defense. However TC2 is directly responsible to the Communist Party of Vietnam and the President.[1]

TC2 is organised into:

The Communist Party of Vietnam exercises its control through the Military Intelligence Commission of the Communist Party.

Besides there is a separate Office of Intelligence in the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard.

Function

Despite its naming as a military intelligence body, its work covers a broad range of interests by law, it is permitted to "be active in the fields of politics, defence, security, foreign relations, economics, science and technology, industry and the environment, society and culture".[2] It is responsible for both internal and external intelligence.

TC2 has been accused by some groups of human rights abuses and political interference.[3]

Famous Operations

During First Indochina War:

During Vietnam War a significant number of spies were sent by North Vietnam and Vietcong into government of South Vietnam and Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Some notable spies were Pham Ngoc Thao, Pham Xuan An, Vu Ngoc Nha etc. Some famous operations by North Vietnamese and Vietcong spies were:

During Cambodian-Vietnamese War and Sino-Vietnamese War, the Military Intelligence played essential role in gathering information from Khmer Rouge and Chinese.

Notable spies

References

  1. Ordinance on Intelligence Services, 14 December 1996
  2. Decree 96/CP on Defence Intelligence, 11 September 1997
  3. Que Me, 29 July 2004
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