Since the 2026 Draft National Budget was submitted to the National Legislature by President Joseph N. Boakai recently, there has been mixed reaction over budgetary allocations for several ministries and agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA), with critics describing the agency’s budget as exorbitant and unjustifiable.
The 2026 draft budget projects US$22.19 million for the agency. Consequently, critics are comparing the allocation to that of the Liberia National Police (LNP), Bureau of Immigration, etc., claiming that the NSA budget is tantamount to the administration’s sinister corruption motive.
However, security experts have expressed a dissenting view on the matter, observing that the NSA is the largest security apparatus of the country, and deserves every pinny allocated to it to safeguard the state.
The National Security Agency (NSA) is the byproduct through the merger of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), that was responsible for covert and overt security investigation and the Executive Action Bureau (EAB). The EAB was also responsible for carrying out clandestine activities for the Executive branch of government.
On May 20, 1974, an Act repealing sub-chapter D of Chapter 1, Part1 and sub-chapter B of Chapter 22, Part ll of the Executive Law in relation to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Executive Action Bureau (EAB) were approved, creating the National Security Agency (NSA). With the birth of the NSA, the “Agency” became the lone-ranger among the Liberian security apparatus solely responsible for the gathering of intelligence covertly, investigating crimes inside (Liberia) and outside of territorial jurisdiction (outside Liberia).
The NSA/Agency is “THE GHOST” that one will never see coming or going. It was created to be invisible and extremely secretive. No one knows the actual inner workings of the Agency. How many employees it has at home and abroad that keep the agency chain of intelligence running. Not even the agency’s Director, nor any other member, knows the total number of employees, intelligence officers, informants, operations officers, analysts and collaborative partners, and daily operations of the agency. The agency is “larger than life—too big, complex and sophisticated for anyone’s total understanding. Its lifeblood is intelligence compartmentation, on a “need-to-know” basis, regardless of an agent’s overall security clearance level.
The GHOST’s primary mission is the gathering of internal and external intelligence that may threaten the national security of the Republic and other sovereign nations. When these intelligences are gathered, analyzed and processed, they are fed to relevant security and non-security governmental agencies responsible for the implementation of the data. The Executive Mansion, DEA, LNP, BIN, AFL, etc., are the most fed.
The internal information gathered through covert or overt operational means, may include but not be limited to, treason, espionage, domestic terrorism, sedition/insurgency, attacks against officials and government infrastructure, etc.
The NSA/AGENCY/GHOST, as one may prefer calling it, is also responsible for external security threats against the Republic of Liberia, immediate neighbors in the Mano River Union (NRU) basin, ECOWAS, African Union (AU), and the United Nations (UN) at large. The agency also has international intelligence partners that they, from time to time as the need arises and permits, share global intelligence with. As the saying goes, “Knowledge is like an oak three; no one man’s hands can engulf it”.
The agency is also involved with, but not limited to, transnational organized crimes (TOC) that are normally carried out by large international criminal networks, drugs and human trafficking, weapons trafficking, cybercrimes, etc.
The agency is under the direct supervision of the President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Joseph Nyumah Boakai, and his Executive Officer, The Minister of State. On May 1, 2024, after the Senate confirmation, President Boakai appointed Retired Maj/Gen Prince Charles Johnson III as Director of the National Security Agency (NSA).
Rtd-Maj/Gen Johnson, is a seasoned, disciplined and well-trained military officer who served the military for over seventeen (17) years, going through the ranks of the military and achieving to become the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL). Director Johnson came to the agency with “wealth of experience, knowledge and wisdom”.
Rtd-Maj/Gen Johnson is the product of the Officer Candidate School (OCS) of 2007, at which time he was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant. To attain the highest rank and position in the AFL, Maj/Gen Prince Charles Johnson (Retired) attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) in Fort Leavenworth Kansas, Infantry Mechanized Company Commander Course (MCCC) in Shijiazhuang, China, Junior Staff Course, Horton Military Academy, Freetown/Sierra Leone.
As a decorated officer of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL), Director/Maj/Gen (Retired) has received several awards and medals, including but not limited to, the Forces Service Star (FSS), Forces Service Ribbon (FSR), Land Forces Command Medel (LFCM), General Operations Media (GOM), and the list goes on.