Singapore's Spy Agency Launches Official Website

The Security and Intelligence Division (SID), Singapore's external intelligence agency under the Ministry of Defence, launched its official website (SID.GOV.SG) on Monday.

While much of SID's operations remain classified for national security reasons, the official website will give Singaporeans a better sense of the significant work SID does and an opportunity to explore a wide range of careers at SID.

On the need for an official website, a SID spokesperson said, "Singapore is facing challenging security issues in an increasingly complex and volatile world. The information that we collect and analyse to detect and counter threats comes from wide and varied sources. The technologies to make sense of such information are evolving rapidly. By increasing SID's visibility, the website will help us to recruit Singaporeans from diverse backgrounds with the right values and experts who can contribute to our mission. It will also help us to strengthen existing linkages and forge new partnerships."

SID worked with other Singapore security agencies in the arrests of Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists who had fled Singapore in the early 2000s. The agency helped them form the then-Joint Counter Terrorism Centre (now subsumed under the National Security Research Centre, under the National Security Coordination Secretariat) in 2004. SID also supported efforts to disrupt a terror group's plot to launch an attack on the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort in 2016.