Counterintelligence command overhaul

[Anchor]

KBS has learned that the State Affairs Planning Committee has drawn up a plan to overhaul the Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC), the unit that played a central role in the emergency martial law operation.

The plan would effectively dismantle the agency by stripping it of its investigative and intelligence-gathering authority.

Reporter Won Dong-hee has the details.

[Report]

The Defense Counterintelligence Command has been listed as the top priority in military reform under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

[Jo Seoung-lae/Spokesperson, State Affairs Planning Committee (June 2025): “It played a key role in the illegal martial law and insurrection. It must be restructured.”]

In this context, the committee officially informed the military on July 15 that it intends to revoke the DCC’s authority to conduct investigations and collect intelligence.

Currently, the DCC can independently investigate 10 types of crimes, including insurrection, foreign aggression, rebellion, violations of the National Security Act, and the Military Secret Protection Act. These powers are to be transferred to the Ministry of National Defense’s Investigation Headquarters.

KBS has confirmed that the DCC will also be stripped of its core intelligence-gathering functions.

Currently, the DCC collects information and conducts investigations across a wide range of entities—ranging from the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and military units, to defense contractors, soldiers, and personnel. These responsibilities are expected to be reassigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff or other agencies.

The plan would leave only the “counterintelligence” function among the DCC’s three core roles, effectively dismantling its “investigation” and “security” functions.

Internally, there are growing concerns that this could turn the Investigation Headquarters into an excessively powerful “monster organization” and that a security investigation vacuum could emerge.

A key official from the committee stated that “there is consensus that the DCC must be essentially dismantled and rebuilt—not just because of its role in the martial law crisis, but due to its longstanding abuse of power.”

The official added, “Even if other agencies become somewhat bloated in the process, that is a trade-off we’re willing to accept.”

The committee plans to discuss the DCC reform plan with the incoming defense minister.

This is Won Dong-hee, KBS News.