Minister Montague Moves to Safeguard Information on Security Spending

Minister of National Security, Hon. Robert Montague, says he will be making a Cabinet submission to exclude the Ministry’s printed details from the country’s Budget.

He was speaking at a post-Sectoral Debate press conference at the Ministry’s Oxford Road offices in New Kingston on July 7.

“We have seen on our website a lot of traffic from countries and organisations … trying to find out the size of the budget and what (we) are spending on; it is an intelligence-gathering thing. We are providing those who wish to cause mayhem with vital information and this Ministry is trying to cease that,” he said.

Mr. Montague said that as a country that depends on tourism “we cannot afford to just lay ourselves very lax as we have been doing. It is time for tough choices to be made,” he added, noting that the army’s budget is not public.

“We have a responsibility to inform as much as we can the citizens, but more importantly, we would want the citizen to see the effects of the strategies,” he said.

Minister Montague informed that an audit of the country’s border control mechanism will be undertaken as part of measures to safeguard the nation against external threats.

“We live in a global village, we are on the doorstep of the United States, our largest market, we are not immune to terrorism,” he pointed out.

In his Sectoral presentation of July 6, Mr. Montague said the Ministry will be acquiring the appropriate technology and deploying it to treat with security on the country’s borders.