National Security Bureau (Taiwan)


The National Security Bureau is the principal intelligence agency of the Republic of China.
WWW nsb.gov.tw

History

The organization was created in 1955 by a ROC Presidential Directive from Chiang Kai-shek, to supervise and coordinate all security-related administrative organizations, military agencies and KMT organizations in Taiwan. Earlier, the bureau was nicknamed "China's CIA" or "CCIA".
The first Director-General of National Security Bureau was a three-star army general, with a background in military intelligence, who once was the deputy of the controversial Bureau of Investigation and Statistics of the National Military Council.
Initially, National Security Bureau did not have its own field officers or operatives. However, in order to strengthen its ability to guide and coordinate other intelligence agencies, NSB soon developed its own field intelligence officers and training pool.
The National Security Bureau was involved in the 1980 murder of lawyer and opposition politician Lin I-hsiung and his family.

Legalization

On 1 January 1994, shortly after the respective organic laws of the National Security Council and NSB were promulgated by the order of the ROC President Lee Teng-hui on 30 December 1993, the National Security Bureau became a legal institution.

Recent events

Though a few known intelligence failures of the National Security Bureau have surfaced in recent years, supporters have pointed out that the agency rarely, if ever, publicizes any successful operations.
On 1 June 2000, a former NSB official who was a retired one-star army general made a personal visit to the PRC and was detained three days later by the PRC Ministry of State Security.
A former chief cashier of NSB, Liu Kuan-chun, was suspected of embezzling more than NT$192 million from money returned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 4 April 1999. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, Ministry of Justice, Liu left the country on 3 September 2000, for Shanghai, PRC. He reappeared in Bangkok in January 2002 and then went to North America. Liu remains a fugitive.
In the afternoon of 19 March 2004, President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu were wounded by gunfire the day before the presidential election, while campaigning in Tainan in what would later to become known as the March 19 shooting incident. Afterwards, the Control Yuan impeached nine officials for dereliction of duty, including former National Security Bureau chief Tsai Chao-ming and former deputy chief of the NSB special service center Chiu Chung-nan. The Control Yuan said in an impeachment report that the National Security Bureau had received information on 18 March 2004 about a possible attack on the president but did not take the report seriously.
In 2004, former US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Donald W. Keyser was arrested by the FBI for illegally handing over documents to two Taiwanese NSB officials who served as intelligence liaison officers in USA. Immediately, the director general of the NSB, General Hsueh Shih-ming, recalled crucial intelligence agents from the United States.
The loyalty of NSB officials to the Democratic Progressive Party is constantly questioned. Traditionally, career personnel of law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and military organizations in Taiwan are labeled as pan-blue because most of them have been lifelong Kuomintang members. However, while the DPP is in power, the National Security Bureau has been attacked by the KMT and People First Party for alleged abuses of power. Despite statements from several NSB Directors General on the political neutrality of the organization, some controversial events have still occurred.
In 2004, Chen Feng-lin, a colonel of the logistics department, Special Service Center, National Security Bureau, confessed that he leaked classified information regarding security measures at President Chen Shui-bian's residence as well as the president's itinerary to Peng Tzu-wen, a former director of the center who retired as a major general. Peng, a retired one-star general, revealed on TV that he would not "take a bullet for President Chen." In August 2005, Peng Tzu-wen was indicted for leaking national secrets on TV and for potentially putting Chen's life in jeopardy.
In April 2025, the NSB reported an uptick in disinformation by the Chinese Communist Party compared to the previous year, including increased use of artificial intelligence.

Structure

The National Security Bureau is subordinate to the National Security Council. Under the chain of command, the NSC is under the direct administration of the President. However, the Director-General of the National Security Bureau usually can and does report directly to the President, bypassing the NSC.

Chiefs

Traditionally, the successive bureau chiefs were exclusively military officers with the rank of three-star general, though this has changed in recent years. In 2003, President Chen Shui-bian appointed Wang Ginn-wang, a former Director-General of National Police Agency with a career police background, to the post of NSB Deputy Director-General. In 2007, Shi Hwei-yow, a former judge from the Taipei district court, former Director-General of the Coast Guard Administration, and at the time the Deputy Director-General of NSB, replaced a three-star army general as the first civilian Director-General of National Security Bureau.

Field Divisions

As result of institutionalizing operations, the NSB now has six intelligence-related divisions:
  1. International intelligence
  2. Intelligence within the area of People's Republic of China
  3. Intelligence within the area of Taiwan
  4. Analysis of the nation's strategic intelligence
  5. Scientific and technological intelligence and telecommunications security
  6. Control and development of secret codes and facilities
  7. Armed Forces Internet Security

Centers

The NSB has three centers:
  1. Special Service Command Center : Presidential Security and Protection
  2. Telecommunication Technology Center
  3. Training Center

Oversight

After martial law was lifted, the NSB has also taken charge of planning special tasks, and it is responsible for guiding, coordinating, and supporting the intelligence affairs in military and civil categories:

Directors-General