Niel Barnard

Lukas Daniel Barnard (14 June 1949 – 13 January 2025), known as Niel Barnard, was a South African academic and intelligence chief who was the head of South Africa's National Intelligence Service from 1979 until 1992 and was notable for his behind-the-scenes role in preparing Nelson Mandela and South African presidents P. W. Botha and F. W. de Klerk for Mandela's eventual release from prison and rise to political power.

Early life Barnard was born in Otjiwarongo, South West Africa (now Namibia) on 14 June 1949. His father was headmaster and chief-inspector of education in SWA/Namibia. The Department of National Security was the new name of the Bureau of State Security (B.O.S.S.) and was renamed in September 1978

Central to the new National Intelligence Service was a debate triggered by Barnard, on the strategic objective of the new intelligence structure. Barnard believed that if the referent object is state security, then, in essence, it means that the intelligence structures have to secure the government from its own citizens. As an alternative, Barnard proposed a national security focus, which meant that security could best be achieved by focussing on threats to the nation, rather than the state. In essence, this implied constitutional reform to implement a universal franchise, thereby laying the foundation for the negotiated transition to democracy that took place in CODESA, an event envisaged by NIS.

The logic underpinning the new service was one of national security, which differed fundamentally from the state security paradigm that had underpinned BOSS.

He arranged for Mandela to be given a suit of clothes befitting a future leader, and for future meetings to take place in a private residence near the prison. It was this core logic that defined the ultimate role that Barnard was to play in creating the political climate behind the scenes for the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) that ultimately drafted the constitution underpinning the transition to democracy in 1994.