Vietnam restructures public security ministry

All six general departments under the ministry were scrapped. The merger of divisions with similar functions has reduced the ministry’s intermediate-level departments by 60 to just over 50, while nearly 300 sub-divisions have been cut.

At the provincial level, a total of 20 firefighting departments have been merged into their respective provincial or municipal police departments. In total, the restructuring cut more than 1,500 subdivisions of the provincial police departments.

Leaders of the scrapped general departments would receive new positions that suit their expertise or be assigned to the intermediate level departments as directors.

In Vietnam’s office hierarchy, general departments come directly under the ministry, followed by intermediate-level departments that are above municipal/provincial level departments, which have divisions and subdivisions.

The sweeping changes were announced by Major General Luong Tam Quang, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Public Security, at a press conference on Tuesday.

He also said that the ministry has restructured its press units and agencies and established a new People's Public Security Communications Department.

The ministry's restructuring was carried out under a directive issued by the Politburo, the Communist Party's top decision-making body, in order to "build a focused and lean machine" designed for "effective work."

The restructuring also includes plans to streamline the system by reducing staff numbers. In late 2016, the ministry stopped recruiting new officers and limited the number of students that enrolled in its military schools.