by: Wonderr K. Freeman, CFCS, Attorney

Recently, Mr. Philipbert S. Browne, a veteran Liberian journalist, wrote two lengthy Facebook posts—praising the National Security Agency (NSA) and justifying its multi-million-dollar budget. The titles of the two posts were:

1. The National Security Agency (NSA): The Ghost that Keeps Liberia Safe.
2. “Yes, the NSA can be audited, but the process is tedious and complicated.”

It is within the constitutional rights of Mr. Browne to post and possibly to make a living. His history of making a living that way is well documented. But his paltry knowledge of the subject-matter (security), law or public finance, for that matter, makes him an unfortunate messenger. He mumbled his way into subjects that he barely understood and wrote an unfortunate piece that neither elucidated the role of the NSA nor justified its FY2026 US$22 million annual budgetary appropriation. He heaped praises on the current NSA Director—Retired General Prince Johnson, as being the best of the best. Nice compliments. I too think that General Johnson is a fine soldier, but is that the subject? I thought the subject was the role of the NSA in Liberia’s security architecture vis-à-vis its hefty budgetary allocation? And whether this agency is a conduit for corrupt political money? In his efforts to laud and justify the role of the NSA and its multi-million-dollar budget, Mr. Browne uttered a number of half-truths and few outright lies that I just could not allow to enter the public space unchallenged.

The lies and half-truths

Mr. Browne cited the Executive Law, Chp. 22 1974 as creating the NSA. Well, for your information, Mr. Browne, the NSA no longer operates under that 1974 law. No! It now works under a 2011 law—the National Security Reform and Intelligence (NSRI) Act of 2011/[aka] the NSA Act 2011. Sorry, sir, this is not 1979 or 1989. This is 2025, and the NSA is now operating as per Section 6 of the NSRI/NSA Act of 2011.

Mr. Browne also writes that the NSA can be audited, but that the process is “tedious and complicated”. Here is the senior brother in his own words.

“Yes, the General Auditing Commission (GAC) can audit the National Security Agency (NSA) with restricted access and limited engagement. Before an Auditor/s be selected, the Auditor will have to take and swear an oath of secrecy.”

What an eloquent but fantastical defense of the NSA—“tedious and complicated, oath of secrecy, GAC Audit” (blah, blah, blah). Now, the only problem is: none of Mr. Browne’s assertions are in the [2011] Act. There is no mention of the GAC or auditor swearing “oath of secrecy” in the Act. This must have come straight out of Mr. Browne’s hallucinations.

It may interest you to note that under the NSRI/NSA Act (2011), §6e(i)_(iii), all investigative techniques used by the NSA are subject to Article 16 control—Article 16 of the [1986] Liberian constitution. And, Mr. Browne, for your ease of reference, here is what Article 16 of our constitution states:

No person shall be subjected to interference with his privacy of person, family, home or correspondence except by order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

As far as audit, inspection and accountability mechanisms in the NSRI/NSA Act (2011) are concerned, here is what the law provides:

1. internal audits & Inspector General’s Inspections– Section 6(f))
2. Financial audits – Section 11 (c.), Financial [Control]
3. MFDP’s and MOJ supervision Section 6(d), ii, iii, Section 10,
4. Legislative Oversight – Section 8
5. Presidential directive and control – Section 11(a) – (d)
6. Code of Conduct – Section 11 (c.)

Beyond the specific provisions of the NSRI/NSA Act (2011), for any power (financial or security) not specifically granted under its Act, the NSA, then, must come from:

1. The Liberian Constitution (1986)
2. The Public Financial Management Act (2009)
3. The General Auditing Commission Act (2014)
4. The Code of Conduct Act (2014)

For any individual, ministry, agency, or parastatal, the right to receive GOL funds comes with it the corresponding responsibility to account for such funds. The consistent argument from Philipbert Browne and his likes is that the NSA has no responsibility to account for GOL funds, or that auditing it is too “tedious and complicated” to be worthwhile. The NSRI/NSA Act has already simplified what must be done; so, where is this extra complication coming from, Mr. Browne? If the NSA law is not clear enough, we have a constitution, other statutes on audit, budget, finance and public servant conduct. So why complicate something that our laws have already “uncomplicated” and “deconstructed”?

NSA—where broad-day stealing masquerades as “covert operations.”

What is happening at the NSA is grand corruption via theft of public funds, plain and simple. Unfortunately, Liberia has consistently had corrupt governments going as far back as 1997, when, for example, the NSA served as a dedicated conduit for grand corruption for Charles Ghankay Taylor/National Patriotic Party (NPP), Browne’s former boss. Again, the NPP, headed by Taylor, was a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government. Lest you forget, theft of property is a criminal offense in Liberia, as well as money laundering. The NSA is claiming that it has a statutory right to be involved in theft and money laundering. This is preposterous. If any individual or institution has such a right, then Liberia is, ipso facto, not a constitutional republic.

A Glimpse of What Goes on NSA-Liberia

Mr. Browne, Mr. Boakai, the NSA and its backers want Liberians to believe the tens of millions of US dollars that are siphoned from state coffers by the NSA is actually for “covert operations”. But is it really? Let’s look at what ex-President George Weah and his security chiefs did just before turning over power. Between the periods of August 1. 2023 to November 23, 2023, while Liberians were busy with elections, George Weah and his security chiefs were going to the CBL nearly every day, sometimes twice a day taking out million of US dollars, in the name of “covert operations”. According to the CBL Audit (2024), in that space of time (about 100 days), this Weah gang took out USD 53.5 million for “covert operations”. During the entire six-year regime of Mr. Weah allegedly stole about USD 178m using the NSA as the conduit. Does it make any sense to you, Mr. Browne, that security people would go to the CBL twice or three times a day to take out money from the CBL in the name of security operations when the nation is going through a general election? Today, no one has fully investigated these overt criminal acts, and all the perpetrators, including the ringleader, Mr. George Weah, have walked away with impunity. Why should Liberia willingly allow its coffers to be drained of money in this ostensibly criminal enterprise? Why?

Date	Transaction #	Agency	Payee	Ref	Amt in US $$$
20-Nov-23	TT2332495207	NSA	Individual	569	500,000
17-Nov-23	TT2332180645	NSA	Individual	591	1,000,000
13-Nov-23	TT2331709920	NSA	Individual	587	500,000
13-Nov-23	TT2331781254	NSA	Individual	588	500,000
8-Nov-23	TT2331292118	NSA	Individual	589	1,000,000
1-Nov-23	TT2330541029	NSA	Individual	578	1,000,000
1-Nov-23	TT2330506401	NSA	Individual	577	1,000,000
31-Oct-23	TT2330466369	NSA	Individual	583	2,000,000
31-Oct-23	TT2330467040	NSA	Individual	582	1,500,000
30-Oct-23	TT2330370975	NSA	Individual	580	1,000,000
27-Oct-23	TT2330040840	NSA	Individual	576	1,000,000
27-Oct-23	TT2330018507	NSA	Individual	579	1,000,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329719343	NSA	Individual	572	1,000,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329783473	NSA	Individual	574	1,000,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329788313	NSA	Individual	575	1,000,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329750496	NSA	Individual	554	650,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329716423	NSA	Individual	553	650,000
24-Oct-23	TT2329791616	NSA	Individual	552	600,000
9-Oct-23	TT2328212941	NSA	Individual	562	2,500,000
9-Oct-23	TT2328259530	NSA	Individual	563	2,000,000
6-Oct-23	TT2327927843	NSA	Individual	566	3,000,000
6-Oct-23	TT2327934314	NSA	Individual	567	2,000,000
6-Oct-23	TT2327985946	NSA	Individual	568	2,000,000
4-Oct-23	TT2327701696	NSA	Individual	564	2,000,000
4-Oct-23	TT2327760002	NSA	Individual	565	1,600,000
2-Oct-23	TT2327554403	NSA	Individual	559	500,000
22-Sep-23	TT2326580098	FIU	Individual	4005	2,432,432
22-Sep-23	TT2326504100	FIU	Individual	4006	1,891,892
22-Sep-23	TT2326541723	FIA	Individual	2156	500,000
21-Sep-23	TT2326445201	FIU	Individual	4008	1,013,405
14-Sep-23	TT2325790269	NSA	Individual	550	700,000
11-Sep-23	TT2325421990	EPS	Individual	1202	800,000
8-Sep-23	TT2325120859	MOS	Individual	3562	599,728
7-Sep-23	TT2325039075	NSA	Individual	546	600,000
31-Aug-23	TT2324334325	NSA	Individual	540	500,000
31-Aug-23	TT2324302911	NSA	Individual	541	500,000
25-Aug-23	TT2323758793	NSA	Individual	534	500,000
25-Aug-23	TT2323788831	NSA	Individual	535	500,000
22-Aug-23	TT2323471132	NSA	Individual	532	500,000
21-Aug-23	TT2323342596	NSA	Individual	533	650,000
18-Aug-23	TT2323008925	NSA	Individual	526	1,000,000
16-Aug-23	TT2322890820	NSA	Individual	528	750,000
15-Aug-23	TT2322768640	NSA	Individual	527	750,000
11-Aug-23	TT2322385747	NSA	Individual	525	1,500,000
4-Aug-23	TT2321603804	NSA	Individual	523	2,000,000
3-Aug-23	TT2321518188	NSA	Individual	522	2,200,000
2-Aug-23	TT2321491052	NSA	Individual	521	560,000
1-Aug-23	TT2321364228	NSA	Individual	520	600,000
	Total Cash Withdrawn Aug 1 to Nov 20, 2023				53,547,458

What the NSA’s record of “security operations” looks like in Liberia.

Beyond conniving with politicians to pillage state funds, the only thing we know of the NSA is that it is a place where citizens and residents are tortured and their basic human rights are abused. The NSA’s constant refrain is that the Constitution of Liberia does not apply to them. This is public knowledge. And it is not just the NSA of the past; even the present NSA is still being accused of torture. Imaging Liberian taxpayers paying for their own torture? This is ridiculous! I will say no more. I will just let the annals of history speak for themselves.

2014; 10 November 2014 by the Daily Observer (a local daily)

A Special Independent Committee (SIC), constituted by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to investigate accusations of money laundering, counterfeiting, illegal arrest and conspiracy to defraud, involving some Korean nationals, a Lebanese and the National Security Agency (NSA), has recommended that the NSA operatives, who were directly involved with the arrest of the Korean and Sierra Leonean nationals, and co-conspirators be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for prosecution….Professor of Law, Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law at the University of Liberia, Cllr. David A. B. Jallah, also recommended to President Sirleaf that appropriate administrative actions be taken against the NSA’s operatives involved. No action was ever taken; the NSA perpetrators went with impunity. See more @https://allafrica.com/stories/201411111002.html.

2025—multiple local dailies report

 … “The appalling treatment of Thomas Etheridge reveals a chilling reality: Liberia is descending into a police state.” The group alleged that Etheridge, arrested on December 18, 2024, near the Capitol Building, was subjected to waterboarding, physical abuse, and death threats by NSA officers to extract a false confession. Again, no action was ever taken; the NSA perpetrators went with impunity. See more @https://verityonlinenews.com/rights-group-accuses-lnp-nsa-of-torture-demands-release-of-detainees/

Contrary to Mr. Browne’s claims that the NSA keeps Liberia safe; the NSA’s record (as noted here) remains one of torture and gross human rights violations. And, in making annual allocations to this agency to the tune of tens of millions of US dollars, Liberians are paying for their own torture and abuse. It is that simple. Since 2005, Liberia has spent about USD240m on NSA alone. Using The World Bank’s standard rates, that same money could have paved the roads from Buchanan to Greenville (130 miles), from Greenville to Barclayville (120 miles) and Zwedru to Fishtown (86 miles). Alternatively, that money could have put up 24,000 miles of electricity transmission lines (that half of Liberia’s 43000 square miles) Instead, successive Liberian governments spent that money, not on roads or electricity, but on the NSA (i.e., on “covert operations). This is an unforgiveable act of cruelty by the GOL against its own people.

What do we do about the NSA?
Shut the NSA down today! Close that perennial chamber of torture, theft and money laundering down. I cannot find one good reason that justifies the existence of the NSA. No, not one! We have the Liberian National Police (LNP); set up an intelligence unit at the LNP (instead). We have the Armed Forces of Liberia; set up an intelligence unit within the AFL (better). These institutions have better civilian control. It makes no sense to use our taxpayers’ money to fund an agency that is dedicated to theft, money laundering, and torture. Doing so is senseless; continuing is insanity! Common sense demands we shut the NSA down. When a security agency forgets its constitutional duty and goes rogue, the necessary and lawful thing to do is to shut it down. This is exactly what the Nigerian government did with SARS (i.e. Special Anti-Robbery Squad) in 2020.

Of course, this is unlikely in Liberia. President Boakai still got to complete his USD 10m dollars mansion in Foya/Lofa. And his party—the ruling Unity Party—well, they got to complete their headquarters projects in all of Liberia’s [15] counties/provinces. The UP got to fund their campaigns; just as George Weah and his CDC gang did in the 2023 elections, when “covert operations” spending topped USD 54 million in just 100 days (i.e., from August 1, 2023 to November 23,2023). In just three years, the Think- Liberia/Love-Liberia President, Mr. Boakai, has allocated USD 50m to the NSA, with USD 28m already spent (2024-2025) and another USD 22m projected to be spent in 2026. This is a national tragedy for Liberia. It is all just one very sad story. When will this NSA nightmare end? When?

Wonderr K. Freeman is a Liberian Investment Attorney, Political Economist, Accountant, and Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) currently based in Minneapolis, USA. Mr. Freeman’s professional interests span the intersection of law and economics, including the political economy of development, economic justice, international trade/investment law, and financial crimes law. He can be reached at [email protected]. He blogs at https://wonderrfreeman.com