The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) (Thai: กองอำนวยการรักษาความมั่นคงภายในราชอาณาจักร abbrev. กอ.รมน.) is a unit of the Thai military devoted to national security issues. It was responsible for suppression of leftist groups during the 1970s and 1980s during which it was implicated in numerous atrocities against activists and civilians. The modern ISOC was implicated in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. After Thaksin was deposed in a military coup, the junta transformed the ISOC into a "government within a government", giving it wide-reaching authority over the National Counter Corruption Committee, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office. The junta also authorized it to help provincial authorities in marketing OTOP products. In June 2007, the junta approved a draft national security bill which would give ISOC sweeping powers to handle "new forms of threats" to the country. The ISOC revamp modelled it after the US Department of Homeland Security, and would give ISOC sweeping new powers and allow the ISOC chief to implement security measures such as searches without seeking approval from the prime minister. As of June 2007, ISOC was headed by Army Commander-in-Chief and junta head General Sonthi Boonyaratglin. Apart from this the ISOC is under the authority of the Office of the Prime Minister.
Read more about Internal Security Operations Command: Communist Suppression Operations Command, Operations During The 1970s, Plot To Assassinate Thaksin Shinawatra, Post 2006-coup ISOC
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