Valensise new director Aisi. Mantovano’s push for more political intelligence

ROMA – Bruno Valencia he is the new number one of the AISI, the internal security agency of our intelligence. The Government decided this yesterday with an appointment that has various meanings: the most political profile was chosen, a 53-year-old jurist, now number two of the Dis, the intelligence department directed by Elisabetta Belloniwho had begun his career at Sisde but who over the years had the ability to establish great relationships in the buildings.

It is no coincidence that the choice was directed – and we come to the second meaning – by the delegated authority, the undersecretary to the Presidency, Alfredo Mantovanowho convinced Palazzo Chigi that Valensise’s appointment was fairer than that of Giuseppe del Deo, current number two of Aisi. Winning the internal game within the Government. In fact, Del Deo’s choice would have been a continuity with the current director, Mario Parente, supported by the Minister of Defence, Guido Crosettoand also by the other undersecretary to the Presidency, Giovanbattista Fazzolari. And here is the third point: the Government has decided to tighten the deadlines and bring forward the exit of Parente, a Carabinieri general who would retire in two months. He did it, officially, because the G7 in Puglia had to be organised, but in reality, for this very reason, many thought that it would be up to Parente, in office for eight years in Piazza Zama, to manage a delicate transition for the national security what is the meeting of the world’s greats.

But no: Valensise will be driving the car with the full mandate of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni but, Chigi let it be known, she has the full approval of the Quirinale which, it transpires, as always happens in cases of the most delicate appointments concerning national security , was probed before the official investiture. Moreover, in recent years Valensise has been awarded three honors by the President of the Republic: knight in 2009, officer in 2013 and commander in 2017.

As we said, however, the path of recent months has been bumpy because the AISI seat had become the subject of a heavy and silent political battle between the majority parties. Mantovano has never had any doubts about the profile of Dis’s number 2. On the other hand, however, there was Crosetto who was pushing on Del Deo by leveraging the soldier’s curriculum but also on practice: since AISI existed, after the 2007 reform, it had never happened that there wasn’t an exponent at the top of the police forces.

It was touched for 12 months to Franco Gabrielli and since then always to an officer of the Carabinieri. However, what closed the path for Del Deo, a former Army officer, was the ostracism of Matteo Salvini (who has never hidden his misunderstandings with Parente’s Aise since the Metropol affair) and the excellent relations with the politics of Valensise. In the majority but also in the opposition. In recent months the names of the former ROS commander, Pasquale Angelosantothe man who coordinated the capture of Matteo Messina Money. And the former police chief, Lamberto Giannini, who passed for the candidate of the Interior Ministry. Even if in the end it was also the opinion of the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, to move the needle in favor of Valensise. Which, given his training, will immediately find himself facing not only operational but also technical dossiers: it’s true, there is a G7 to organize. The international situation is explosive, with the two conflicts that are gripping Europe in Ukraine and Israel and the jihadist terrorist threat that has returned to frighten the West. There is also the issue of very high internal temperatures, with the risk of welding between apparently different antagonistic groups. But Valensise’s choice also serves, and perhaps above all, to speed up the idea of ​​intelligence reform that Mantovano had up until the first moment, with the idea of ​​a single agency. A project that up to now has had a bumpy path but which now, with Valensise at the helm of Aisi, could have a sudden acceleration.