Intelligence Services Act, 2002 (Act No. 65 of 2002)RegulationsIntelligence Services Regulations, 2014Chapter I : General Provisions6. Profile of an Intelligence Officer |
| (1) | Attributes and qualities needed by a member to be successful as an Intelligence Officer include— |
| (a) | faithfulness to the Republic of South Africa and the Constitution; |
| (b) | obedience to the laws of the Republic of South Africa; |
| (c) | disregard for a manifestly illegal order; |
| (d) | respect for the norms, values and principles of a democratic society including the basic human rights of individuals; |
| (e) | responsibility in the handling of information and intelligence, and the prevention, at all costs, of the unauthorised disclosure of national security interests; |
| (f) | the ability to facilitate an early warning system to assist policy makers in identifying harmful trends; |
| (g) | the ability to determine the cause and effect in order to find links in the chain of evidence, discerning between fact and fiction and distinguishing between essentials and non-essentials; |
| (h) | inquisitiveness, ingenuity, ability to attend to detail and express ideas clearly, correctly, concisely and completely; |
| (i) | facilitation of other opinions, ways of thinking and behaviour as well as understanding the reason for other people's thought processes and conduct; |
| (j) | flexibility and open-mindedness; |
| (k) | principal interests in serving intelligence while displaying moderation with regard to promoting own ambition and aspiring for personal reward; |
| (I) | compliance with the "need to know" principle; |
| (m) | integrity, trustworthiness, humanity and compassion; |
| (n) | strategising, displaying intuition and predictiveness; |
| (o) | knowledge of practical psychology to interpret an operational situation; |
| (p) | identification and keeping track of, and advising on political, economic, environmental and social developments nationally and internationally; |
| (q) | assistance in the development of effective control systems in order to maximise the collection of state revenue and reducing corruption, white-collar crime and mismanagement within state departments and public-sector agencies; |
| (r) | the ability to facilitate early preventive action and thereby avoiding unnecessary crises and devastating human cost; |
| (s) | the ability to memorise faces, events and places; |
| (t) | great patience; |
| (u) | proficiency in foreign languages in order to conduct operational tasks comfortably and readily; |
| (v) | courage and the ability to take risks; |
| (w) | simulating rage, or impatience, or sympathy, without losing control of emotions, hiding real feelings as well as assuming a false appearance, if needed; |
| (x) | conduct that upholds the integrity of the Agency. |
| (2) | To engender the resolve to have an intelligence officer with the qualities outlined above, the conditions of service of the Agency need to compare favourably with national and international best practices. |