Digital and Intelligence Service
The Digital and Intelligence Service is the digital service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces responsible for providing military intelligence to the armed forces, building up the country's digital defence capabilities, and protecting the psychological defence of its military personnel. It was established on 28 October 2022, in response to the increased number of attacks by non-state actors, and the damage resulting from Russo-Ukrainian cyberwarfare.
History
DIS was first announced on 2 March 2022 by Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen during the Budget 2022 debate. In his speech, Ng highlighted the increase in attacks by non-state actors and resulting damage from the Russo-Ukrainian cyberwarfare to justify the necessity of a dedicated service branch to deal with hybrid warfare. The DIS was compared by The Straits Times with its closest existing equivalent abroad, Germany's Cyber and Information Domain Service.The DIS was planned to comprise several groups within the Singapore Armed Forces previously established to deal with such threats, which are the C4I Community created in April 2012, Defence Cyber Organisation in March 2017, SAF C4 Command in November 2017, and the Cybersecurity Task Force in December 2020. The DIS consolidates these organisations under one service branch dedicated to psychological defence, tackling digital domain threats,cybersecurity and military intelligence. It was projected to be formally established at the end of 2022.
On 2 August 2022, Parliament amended the Singapore Armed Forces Act and Constitution, formally placing the DIS under the SAF and granting the Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service legal powers. The DIS was formally inaugurated on 28 October 2022 at the SAFTI Military Institute. The state colours were presented by President Halimah Yacob and the first Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service, Brigadier-General Lee Yi-Jin, was sworn into command.