Georgian Dream parliamentary majority has initiated legislative amendments, which, if approved, will transfer Intelligence Service from president to government’s subordination and give the PM authority to appoint head of the National Forensics Bureau.

The Intelligence Service, which has 160 personnel and GEL 5 million (about USD 3 million) funding this year, is in charge of identifying and assessing “foreign threats and risks” and providing country’s political leadership with intelligence assessments and information.

Under the existing law, the Intelligence Service is directly reporting to the President and the National Security Council (NSC), which is at the president’s administration. The proposed legislative amendment, if approved, will make the agency to report to the Prime Minister and NSC.

The head of the Intelligence Service will be appointed by the PM, instead of the President, according to the proposal. It also offers to make head of the agency a senior intelligence advisor to the PM and not to the President as it is now. According to the proposal, the agency should gather and provide intelligence information to the PM, instead of the President.

In a separate legislative amendment, proposed by the Georgian Dream, head of the National Forensics Bureau should be appointed by the PM, instead of the President as it is under the existing law. The bureau, which is providing forensic services to the state agencies as well as to private ones, submits its annual reports to the President and the government, according to its statute which regulates bureau’s activities.