COPASIR explained

Comitato parlamentare per la sicurezza della Repubblica (Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic) is a body of the Italian Parliament deputed to survey and oversee the activities of the Italian intelligence agencies.

History

Since the end of World War II, Italian intelligence agencies have been reorganized many times in an attempt to increase their effectiveness and bring them more fully under civilian control.

The committee was established as part of a broader reform of the Italian intelligence community, which represented the latest in a long string of government attempts to effectively manage Italy's intelligence agencies.

• In 1977, with Legislative Act n.801 of 24/10/1977, this came after a former chief of SID, Vito Miceli, was arrested for "conspiration against the State" (See Golpe Borghese), and the intelligence agencies were reorganized in a democratic attempt. This re-organization mainly consisted of:
  • The split of SID, the intelligence agency at that time, into two separate agencies with different roles: SISDE (the domestic one) and SISMI (the military one).
  • The creation of CESIS, with a coordination role between the two intelligence agencies and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
  • The creation of the Parliamentary Committee, COPACO, to oversee the activities of the two agencies.
• Since 1 August 2007, with Legislative Act n.124 of 08/03/2007, following the reform of the Italian intelligence agencies, SISDE, SISMI and CESIS were replaced respectively by AISI, AISE and DIS;^[1] the COPACO was renamed COPASIR (Comitato Parlamentare per la Sicurezza della Repubblica, Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic) and granted additional oversight and control powers.

Mission

Following the reform of the Italian intelligence agencies approved on 1 August 2007, COPASIR. has the power to:

• Declassify State Secrets, but only if all members of the Committee agree with unanimity.
• Acquire acts and dossiers from judicial investigations, with the authority to overcome the professional secrecy, both of judicial and banking nature.
• Have free access to intelligence agencies' offices and documentations.

COPASIR is constituted by four Senators and four Deputies, designated proportionally by the Presidents of the two Chambers (the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate of the Republic).

Current composition

Name		Group	Role	House	Took office
	Lorenzo Guerini	Democratic Party	President	Chamber of Deputies	21 November 2022
	Giovanni Donzelli	Brothers of Italy	Vice President		21 November 2022
	Ettore Rosato	Action – PER	Secretary		21 November 2022
	Marco Pellegrini	Five Star Movement	Member		21 November 2022
	Angelo Rossi	Brothers of Italy	Member		21 November 2022
	vacant	Brothers of Italy	Member	Senate of the Republic	TBD
	Claudio Borghi	League	Member		17 November 2022
	Enrico Borghi	Italia Viva	Member		17 November 2022
	Licia Ronzulli	Forza Italia	Member		17 November 2022
	Roberto Scarpinato	Five Star Movement	Member		17 November 2022

List of presidents

width=1% rowspan=2	Portrait	width=15% rowspan=2	Name (Born–Died)	width=30% colspan=3	Term of office	width=11% rowspan=2 colspan=2	Party	width=11% rowspan=2	Legislature
width=11%	Took office	width=11%	Left office	width=8%	Time in office
	Claudio Scajola (1948–)	1 August 2007	29 April 2008			Forza Italia	XV
	Francesco Rutelli (1954–)	22 May 2008	12 November 2009			Democratic Party	XVI
	Massimo D'Alema (1949–)	26 January 2010	15 March 2013			Democratic Party
	Giacomo Stucchi (1969–)	6 June 2013	22 March 2018			Northern League / League	XVII
	Lorenzo Guerini (1966–)	18 July 2018	4 September 2019			Democratic Party	XVIII
	Raffaele Volpi (1960–)	9 October 2019	20 May 2021			League
	Adolfo Urso (1957–)	9 June 2021	12 October 2022			Brothers of Italy
	Lorenzo Guerini (1966–)	6 December 2022	Incumbent			Democratic Party	XIX

External links

• The Italian Intelligence and Security Services Official Website - COPACO
• The Italian Intelligence and Security Services Official Website - Home Page

Notes and References

1. Legislative Act n.124 of 08/03/2007, reported on the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, General Series, n.187 of 08/13/2007. http://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/gurifulcrum/dispatcher?service=1&datagu=2007-08-13&task=sommario&numgu=187&tmstp=1189016330697.