[Exclusive] Military Security Support Command Renamed Again After 4 Years... Removing 'Moon Government' Influence

Established with the disbandment of the Defense Security Command during the Moon administration
To be renamed due to security and counterintelligence weaknesses... Organizational restructuring planned

On the morning of the 1st, the guard post mark at the main gate of the Military Security Support Command in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province was changed from the old Armed Forces Security Command mark to the current mark. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The Yoon Seok-yeol administration is pushing for a plan to change the name of the Military Security Support Command (Anjisa), which is in charge of security duties within the military. This comes just four years after its establishment following the disbandment of the Defense Security Command. Amid ongoing military-related investigations such as the 'West Sea Civilian Killing Incident' and the 'Repatriation of North Korean Fishermen Incident' under the current government, it is being evaluated that the military units have also begun to actively erase the 'Moon Jae-in administration' imprint.

According to a government official on the 13th, Anjisa recently conducted a survey among its internal staff regarding three possible names: the Republic of Korea Security Command, the Republic of Korea Counterintelligence Security Command, and the Security Counterintelligence Command. Anjisa plans to finalize the name soon after gathering internal opinions.

If Anjisa changes its name and organization, it would mean reversing the decision made just four years ago. Anjisa is the successor to the Defense Security Command. It was established in 2018 following the controversy over the martial law execution plan and the subsequent disbandment of the Defense Security Command. The personnel were reduced from about 4,200 to around 2,900, and its responsibilities and functions were also scaled down. The current government perceives that the downsizing has actually made the security and counterintelligence sectors more vulnerable.

Anjisa plans to overhaul its organization significantly along with the name change. In the first half of this year, the Yoon administration reassigned five out of six generals belonging to Anjisa in a personnel reshuffle. This was effectively a 'signal flare' for organizational reform. It is known that the name change and organizational restructuring were directed by the Presidential Office, reflecting President Yoon’s intentions.

However, even if the name and organization are changed, it is expected to be difficult to increase the number of personnel again. The government is undertaking a major organizational diagnosis and a 'Integrated Quota System' that reduces and reallocates 1% of civil servant quotas per department to streamline the workforce, making it hard to expand the scale. There is also analysis suggesting that increasing the number of personnel deployed for field intelligence gathering will be challenging.

A military official said, "We are reviewing the revision of the unit name to reflect the unit’s identity and the characteristics of a specialized security and counterintelligence institution."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.