The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) was the previous name of an intelligence agency of the South African government. Currently it is known as the Domestic Branch of the State Security Agency. It is responsible for domestic and counter-intelligence within the Republic of South Africa. The branch is run by a Director, who reports to the Director-General of the State Security Agency. The Director is also a member of the National Intelligence Co-Ordinating Committee (NICOC). Origins The NIA was formed in 1994, the same year South Africa's first multi-racial elections were held. It was created to take over from the domestic intelligence segment of the then National Intelligence Service (NIS) with the foreign intelligence functions being taken over by the South African Secret Service (SASS). Both the SASS and NIA were created as part of the Intelligence Act of 1994. They were created out of the six intelligence organisations consisted of the NIS, Department of Intelligence and Security (ANC), Pan African Security Service (PAC), and the three intelligence services of Venda, Transkei and Bophuthatswana. These two new organisations would consist of a total of 4000 people with 2130 from the NIS, 910 from DIS (ANC), 304 from Bophuthatswana Intelligence and Internal Security Service (BISS), 233 from Transkei Intelligence Service (TIS), 76 from Venda National Intelligence Service (VNIS) and the rest from the PASS (PAC). Function and mandate The National Strategic Intelligence Act of 1994 defines the primary functions of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) as being to gather, correlate, evaluate and analyse domestic intelligence to: identify any threat or potential threat to the security of the Republic or its people supply intelligence regarding any such threat to the National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (NICOC) gather departmental intelligence at the request of any interested department of state and without delay to transmit such intelligence that constitutes departmental intelligence to the relevant department fulfil the national counter-intelligence responsibility and for this purpose to conduct and coordinate counter-intelligence to gather, correlate, evaluate, analyse and interpret information regarding counter-intelligence to identify any threat or potential threat to the security of the Republic or its people inform the President of any such threat supply (where necessary) intelligence relating to any such threat to the South African Police Services (SAPS) for the purposes of investigating any offence or alleged offence. In view of these functions, NIA (the Domestic Branch) is responsible for the following: To fulfil a proactive,