The rapporteur of the proposed amendment to the Public Security Constitution (PEC) in the Chamber, federal deputy Mendonça Filho (União-PE), excluded excerpts dealing with the Brazilian Intelligence System from the text. The request was made by the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, according to the parliamentarian.
The PEC report was presented by Mendonça Filho on Wednesday, 10, and should be voted on next week by the Public Security and Combating Organized Crime Commission.
The opinion brings drastic changes in relation to the original text and is a kind of mixture of the anti-faction bill currently being processed in the Senate. And it provides for a loophole to reduce the age of criminal responsibility, tougher penalties against factionalists and shielding States against the influence of the Union to direct public policies – contrary to what Lewandowski proposed.
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Lewandowski’s request is due to the lack of consensus within the federal government itself on the issue, according to the deputy. The original PEC did not address this issue.
“The devices were included following public hearings with operators in the security area and, especially, in response to the demand from the management of Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency), which defended a standardization of the intelligence system, with external control and oversight by Congress. Lewandowski does not consider it convenient to include in this discussion of security the general standards on the national intelligence system”, says Mendonça Filho in a note.
The parliamentarian states that the removed devices dealt with “strengthening the joint work of financial intelligence bodies to identify faction leaders, violent criminals and public agents linked to crime; and guaranteeing the secure sharing of data between authorities to combat crime”.
The report mentioned intelligence activity at some points. One of them, relating to article 122 of the Federal Constitution (on the exclusive powers of the Union), removed from the original project the provision for the creation of the Federal Road Police and the exclusive responsibility of the Union over public security and social defense, leaving the federal government only to legislate on intelligence activity.
In another section, it placed the oversight and control of intelligence activity as the exclusive competence of the National Congress, giving power to the Legislature over the Executive. And he said that it was the exclusive responsibility of the President of the Republic to establish the National Intelligence Policy.
The report has an entire section on the Brazilian Intelligence System.
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There is also a provision that federal judges will be able to process and judge “requests for authorization from the Union’s central intelligence body for the use of confidential techniques and means, in the cases provided for by law” and that appointment to public security and intelligence positions will go through some procedures such as social research and psychological examination.
Mendonça Filho undid several of the Lula government’s changes and entered a field that the original project did not cover. The deputy proposes, for example, a referendum to be held during the 2028 municipal elections for the population to decide on reducing the age of criminal responsibility to 16 years old – currently it is 18 years old. The change would apply to cases of crimes committed “with violence or serious threat to the person”.
The PEC incorporates the spirit of the anti-faction bill, the original version of which was also prepared by the ministry, by creating a new criminal category of “highly dangerous criminal organization”, including factions and militias, which would have a more rigorous penal regime.
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Unlike the PEC, which deals with more structural issues to provide constitutional security for entities and corporations to act, the bill deals with changes in criminal legislation to improve the fight against crime in a practical way.
