National Intelligence Service

The National Intelligence Service ( or ) was an intelligence agency of the Government of Peru that existed from 1960 to 2000. History Fujimori government During the administration of Alberto Fujimori, the agency's power expanded, and its de facto chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, used the agency for political purposes. Funding for the agency was not supervised by Congress; SIN's budget grew fifty times larger between 1990 and 2000, with the budget being between $96 million and $108 million in the latter year. Montesinos used the agency to gather and control all information within Peru. Wiretapping was common by SIN agents under Montesinos. Surveillance cameras were placed at the Legislative Palace, the Palace of Justice, the Government Palace, Jorge Chávez International Airport, at brothels visited by politicians and in other locations throughout Lima, all being personally reviewed by Montesinos. At the headquarters of SIN, which was known locally as "The little Pentagon", former employees reported that a sub-basement existed where political opponents were imprisoned, torture and killed. According to the former employees, those killed were cremated in an incinerator and a smell of burnt hair was present within the facility.