• Wimal says recent visit of top delegation kept ‘top secret’
• State Defence Minister says claim is baseless  

Opposition Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa claimed yesterday  (22) that the arrival of a high level delegation from the United States (US) Department of Defence in Sri Lanka recently was with the aim of placing Sri Lanka’s Intelligence information under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), allegations which were later refuted by State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon when inquired by The Daily Morning.

Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Weerawansa stated that 20 officers from the Pentagon (the headquarters of the US Department of Defence) had arrived in Sri Lanka in two separate aircrafts and met with President and Defence Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, retired General Kamal Gunaratne, and other Intelligence officers. “They used the very, very important persons (VVIP) lounge in the Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake to arrive which is used by heads of state. As far as we know, the Immigration and Emigration protocol was also not properly followed concerning them. When the Airport is queried on this, they say that it is a top secret mission. According to what we hear, these officers are trying to place our Intelligence information under an official of the CIA where they will decide which Intelligence reports of the country should be sent and which should be held back,” he alleged.

However, when The Daily Morning contacted Tennakoon, he termed the allegations completely false and baseless. “The delegation came and met me too. During my discussions with them, we spoke about regional security and the effects of the war in Ukraine, as well as our training programmes and other things of usual interest. What is wrong with that? We get high-ranking visitors and we entertain them. We are a nation that is friendly with the entire world and are enemies of none. So, I ask these veteran and senior politicians to be careful and responsible when they make public statements.”

The delegation led by U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs (PDASD) Jedidiah P Royal paid a courtesy call on the State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon and Defence Secretary Gen. Kamal Gunaratne during two separate occasions today (Feb 16).