Jennings-Smith sworn in

Dillon was speaking to reporters at the Office of the President in St Ann’s yesterday, following President Anthony Carmona’s appointment of former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), now Toco/ Sangre Grande MP, Glenda Jennings-Smith as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security. Jennings- Smith said she would be meeting with Dillon this morning to discuss her duties and that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has already “elucidated certain things that are in store for me.” Last week Wednesday, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dennis Moses, was appointed a Minister in the ministry by Carmona, acting on Rowley’s advice.

The same advice led to Jennings-Smith’s appointment yesterday.

Dillon, in a statement issued on January 29, identified migration, border security, immigration and transnational organised crime, particularly with respect to counter terrorism and human trafficking, as some of Moses’ new responsibilities.

In the case of Jennings- Smith, she has had extensive training in the policing and social impact of the gang culture and police outreach programmes, which she will use to “assist (Dillon) in these and similar programmes and the overall outreach activities of the uniformed services,” the ministry stated.

Newsday yesterday asked if the specific skill sets and experience of Moses and Jennings- Smith would see them speaking about issues of national security related to their fields.

Dillon said no, explaining that Government is taking a collective approach in treating with issues of national security. “(Moses) is not just going to be talking about international affairs and so on. The entire security apparatus is going to speaking. You will see, based on the collective experience that’s brought to bear by each of us, there’s a strong team that will be working in terms of shaping the security environment of TT,” the National Security Minister stated.

Earlier during the appointment ceremony, PM Rowley said he was “pleased to report” that human resource needs at the “top of the structure” of Government’s response to crime “is now in place.” Rowley explained that with Moses and Jennings- Smith now “on location in the Ministry of National Security,” the support they will provide to Dillon will allow the minister “to focus on the imperative of putting in place the structure for information-gathering, the management structure, the audits of the various units, as well as to deploy them, and to work with the management of the Coast Guard, the Defence Force, the Police and the general public.