Republic of liberia

7. IDENTIFICATION OF SECURITY INSTITUTIONS
Liberia’s security institutions were established by successive governments during different periods in the history of Liberia in order to address the existing security challenges and threats of those eras. After fourteen years of war, and given the increasing complex nature of the threats and new challenges to the national security interests of Liberia, there is the urgent need to transform the country’s security institutions such that they will be able to perform their duties in a legitimate, coherent, integrated and effective way. There will also be the need to reach agreement on what their duties will be. One of the weaknesses of the past was that the security institutions did not perform their duties in an integrated way to safeguard the national security interests of Liberia; they lacked coordination and performed overlapping duties. This often led more to turf battles between and among them as opposed to cooperation for the common good of the country. Importantly, the long years of political patronage and interference with the work of the security agencies by successive administrations have provided a breeding ground for inefficiency, corruption and misuse of government resources.
The graph below identifies all existing security and law enforcement agencies and their respective functions as envisaged under this National Security Strategy. This includes the Liberia National Coastguard that will be reconstituted and the anticipated Anti Corruption Commission.