SINGAPORE – Brigadier-General Lee Yi-Jin, who headed the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) contact tracing operations during the pandemic, has been appointed the first chief of Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS).
Prior to his appointment, the 42-year-old was chief C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence), a role now subsumed under that of chief of DIS. He is now concurrently also the director of Military Intelligence.
BG Lee laid the foundations for the establishment of the new service, having played an instrumental role in charting the DIS’ mission in defence in the digital domain, said the Ministry of Defence (Mindef).
Besides defining the DIS’ role within the SAF, he also designed its organisational and manpower structure.
On Friday, BG Lee was appointed by President Halimah Yacob during the DIS’ inauguration parade held at the Safti Military Institute.
An artillery officer by vocation, BG Lee joined the SAF in 1999 and has served in various command appointments, including as commander of the 6th Singapore Division and Headquarters Sense and Strike, commander of the 3rd Singapore Infantry Brigade, and commanding officer of the 21st Battalion Singapore Artillery, said Mindef.
He also held key appointments, including a stint as group chief policy and strategy at Mindef and assistant chief of the General Staff (Plans).
As the service chief is a two-star-general appointment, BG Lee is expected to be promoted to major-general in 2023.
Meanwhile, the other two top roles in the service – chief expert DIS (CXDI) and chief of staff – Digital and Intelligence Staff (COS-DS) – will be undertaken by Military Expert 5 Noh Kok Tiong and Brigadier-General Mark Tan. BG Tan is currently the defence cyber chief.
As chief expert DIS, ME5 Noh, 50, will act in a capacity similar to that of a sergeant major in a typical military setting, but with added responsibilities that are better suited for the unconventional nature of the DIS.
This was highlighted during a media briefing on Wednesday by Colonel Letchumanan Narayanan, head of the DIS Implementation Office, who said the CXDI would be responsible for ensuring that DIS soldiers maintain discipline during round-the-clock intelligence operations.
Such operations take place even during peacetime and function as an early warning system for the rest of the SAF. Soldiers are required to remain alert to anything unusual.
Besides being well versed in the various aspects of the digital domain, ME5 Noh will also be responsible for the DIS soldiers’ regimentation, including their parades.
