On March 2, at 6:25 pm, the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) posted a message on its Facebook page–that the National Security Council (chaired by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley) recommended that the head of the country’s spy intelligence organisation–the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), be replaced immediately and that new leadership and management be installed with despatch.
Major Roger Best was sent on administrative leave, and the T&T’s ambassador to the United States was recalled and appointed acting director.
What was that national security threat?
Guardian Media Investigations Desk pieced the timeline of how the murder of Andy Daniel, a closed-circuit television (CCTV) contractor on November 11, 2023, led to the surprise shake-up at the SSA.
Lead Editor Investigations
asha.javeed@guardian.co.tt
It was the murder of Andy Daniel, 53, which alerted the Government that it had lost control of the SSA, intelligence sources tell Guardian Media.
Daniel, a private CCTV contractor, was the husband of Joanne Daniel, the Deputy Director of Intelligence of the SSA.
Not only did Andy Daniel work for government officials, he installed the cameras at some of their homes and kept the administration rights to the systems, sources disclosed.
It was his administration rights to the camera systems–which include some of the country’s top officials, businessmen and gangsters (all named)–which he could remotely tap into at any given point, which made it a valuable commodity for intelligence and criminal elements, for use and abuse.
Guardian Media could not establish whether Daniel was also a contractor of the SSA, given that its business is subject to only oversight by its director, but learnt that how much Daniel shared about his business with the SSA is now part of its inquiry.
The two departments within the SSA where about five people have been removed and suspended and their firearms revoked in the last week are the cyber defence and cyber operation units.
The son of Pastor Ian Brown, the self-proclaimed 67-year-old spy of the SSA, was also attached to that unit.
Brown told Guardian Media that both Andy and Joanne were congregants at his church, the Jerusalem Bride, in Malabar, Arima. But at the time of Andy’s death, Joanne reportedly lived at the home of Pastor Brown and his wife, Sandra.
For months before Daniel’s death, intelligence officials tried to raise concerns with government officials to talk about how the SSA was being run by director Best–including the hiring practices, the confluence of church members at the top of the agency who were being heavily influenced by Pastor Brown, the challenges being faced with Best given his religious proclivities (he is an elder at Brown’s church), and operations taking place which were beyond the remit of the SSA, all funded by taxpayers’ dollars.
The SSA debacle has brought into focus three murders–the 2019 murders of Bryan Felix and Aleem Khan, whose bodies were found in a forested part of Cumuto on October 13, 2019 (see story on Page 3) and Daniel’s.
Daniel was shot and killed while parked on the northbound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway around midday on November 11, 2023.
Joanne was suspended from the SSA last week as acting director Brigadier Anthony Phillips-Spencer conducts his Inquiry.
But it was Daniel’s death which signalled the alarm to the Government that all was not well at the SSA.
Furthermore, as the Government began to unearth how the SSA was hijacked under its watch, intelligence sources said it was discovered that the church had significant high-ranking members throughout the country’s national security apparatus–from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), the Air Guard and the Defence Force.
The Government sought international assistance to determine how much and to what extent the State’s national security apparatus is compromised and how to address it effectively. Further, a weakened national security apparatus makes the country more vulnerable to criminal elements.
Intelligence sources have pointed to incompetence in Government’s handling of the national security portfolio and its inability to ensure accountability from the organisations which led to the hijack.
Dr Rowley had said Best was sent on leave based on troubling information provided to the National Security Council (NSC) by the TTPS. The information, he said, warranted drastic intervention.
As the Government sought to regain control of the SSA, Brown came forward as a spy and one who was made a Special Reserve Police Officer by Gary Griffith. He outed himself because his cover was blown when police raided his church on March 9.
The pastor and SSA entwined
So how did the pastor of a church get hired as an adviser to the director of the country’s intelligence agency?
Unlike other state enterprises, the SSA is a cash-dependent organisation and is allocated millions of taxpayers’ dollars to pay informants or “operatives” (who are supposed to be covert).
This is done in cash–it can range from $500 to $10,000.
And because of their access to communities, religious leaders are targeted to source information–from pundits to priests to imams.
That’s how Pastor Brown got into the information-sharing business. He started off earning small sums from the now-disbanded Special Anti-Crime Unit of T&T, under Brigadier Peter Joseph.
At that time, he said he was a contractor. Information obtained suggests he owns Mammoth Contracting, but had his ear on the ground which proved useful.
For years, he earned $10,000 from the SSA for information but last year, he was formally employed by the SSA as Best’s adviser for $25,000 a month.
He told Guardian Media that it was former Air Guard captain Kester Weekes, who is a member of his church, who introduced Best to him by bringing him to church.
Brown described Best as a “born-again” Christian who is a vehicle to do good work in the country.
In that period of getting to know Best, Brown’s son was hired at the SSA.
So impressed was Best with Brown that he would allow him to sit in on high-level meetings, travel with him (they travelled together to Israel last year) and allow him to interface with international security counterparts.
Best would also spend his spare time at the construction facility of Brown’s church.
Since he came forward, and his identity is now public, Brown believes he is a target.
“I am a threat,” he stated.
His logic is his publicity prevents anything from happening to him although he is prepared for all eventualities now that he has come forward.
Asked whether he had tentacles in other arms of the country’s national security apparatus, he admitted to knowing officers throughout given his long association with different agencies.
However, he said it was Best and Daniel, who attend his church, who have supported him the most because he “just doesn’t trust the police.”
As for Andy Daniel’s murder, Browns said he spoke to him weeks before on his safety.
“He didn’t know where his wife was working, he just knew National Security. But we sat down a few weeks before and warned him, the way he was doing business was putting his life in jeopardy,” he said.
Brown said that Andy Daniel was installing CCTV cameras for politicians (who he identified) and “members of the Muslimeen” and would retain the admin rights.
Guardian Media asked Brown whether there was a hit squad in the SSA.
“That is far from the truth,” he said.
A member of Brown’s church said while she was shocked at his claims, he did have “high people” in his church.
The member claimed that Brown focused on doomsday-type sermons but lately became more erratic, in one instance, opening his jacket to show guns as a sign of power.
Brown was given a licenced firearm from the SSA which he still had until last Friday.
The member said Brown was building his church and had stockpiled cash and fuel, “so if anything happens, I have somewhere for my people.”
