Internal Security Operations Command

Internal Security Operations Command or ISOC (<a href="/facts/Thai_language/PnaLdG77">Thai</a>: กอ.รมน.; <a href="/facts/Royal_Thai_General_System_of_Transcription/EWjAaoyF">RTGS</a>: ko o ro mo no) is the internal security agency and political arm of the <a href="/facts/Royal_Thai_Armed_Forces/ahCaYnfX">Royal Thai Armed Forces</a>. It was responsible for the suppression of leftist groups from the 1960s to the 1980s. During this period it was implicated in atrocities against activists and civilians. ISOC was implicated in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister <a href="/facts/Thaksin_Shinawatra/CBBYa0M7">Thaksin Shinawatra</a>. 
After Thaksin was deposed by the <a href="/facts/2006_Thai_coup_d%2527%25C3%25A9tat/jbpoFh3l">2006 Thai coup d'état</a>, the junta transformed ISOC into a government within a government, giving it wide-reaching authority over the <a href="/facts/National_Anti-Corruption_Commission_(Thailand)/ezDzFMQB">National Anti-Corruption Commission</a> (NACC), the <a href="/facts/Department_of_Special_Investigation/uJcYkVqT">Department of Special Investigation</a> (DSI), and the <a href="/facts/Anti-Money_Laundering_Office_(Thailand)/oQJcbdgf">Anti-Money Laundering Office</a> (AMLO). The junta also authorized it to help provincial authorities in marketing <a href="/facts/One_Tambon_One_Product/4qtPeIk1">OTOP</a> products. 
In June 2007, the junta approved a draft national security bill which gave ISOC sweeping powers to handle "new forms of threats" to the country. The ISOC revamp modelled it after the US <a href="/facts/Department_of_Homeland_Security/jwz5gLfa">Department of Homeland Security</a> and gave ISOC sweeping new powers to allow the ISOC chief to implement security measures, such as searches without seeking prime ministerial approval.

Internal Security Operations Command open-in-new

Internal Security Operations Command