Cabinet returns 4 units to national security: Report

The Trinidad & Tobago cabinet has reversed its decision to remove four units from the jurisdiction of National Security Minister John Sandy, a report in the Guardian newspaper said on Sunday.

The report also said that Rear Admiral Richard Kelshall has been removed as head of the National Security Operations Centre. 

It said cabinet made the changes last Thursday in relation to its earlier decision to place the four units under the direct control of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The units are:

• The helicopter Unit
• The terrorism squad
• The Canine Section 
• The radar equipment used to monitor drug smuggling along

The Guardian cited unnamed Cabinet sources as saying that Kelshall hade made the recommendation to take away the control of the units from national security.

Kelshall was named head of the National Security Operations Centre replacing Lt Col Ricardo Garcia, who was sent to the National Security Training Academy. 

Kelshall gave a media interview earlier this month in which he stated that the National Security Minister was told of the decision to remove the units and it “was made with his concurrence.” 

Sandy was out of the country at the time the change was announced and on his return he denied knowledge about the decision to remove the units from his direct control, the Guardian said.

It added that Sandy insisted that he is the only person in a position to speak on issues of National Security. 

The Guardian quoted the Prime Minister’s National Security adviser Capt Gary Griffith as confirming the reversal of the earlier decision. 

“I have been told that the Cabinet rescinded its decision and returned the four units to National Security. As you would remember, this is in keeping with what I had suggested that the day-to-day running of the National Security Operations Centre should remain with the Minister of National Security. 

"But this should not be seen in any way as Rear Admiral Kelshall being fired or anything like it. The fact is that these things are in the embryonic stage and we are trying to put the National Security infrastructure in place and so the only substantive position that Rear Admiral Kelshall was appointed was as the Regional Security director and that position remains."