The former Ipid head has been called to serve as director for the foreign branch, a move that is hoped will bring about stability to the agency.
In a statement, the State Security Ministry said Robert McBride had been appointed for a period of three years commencing from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023.
It was during Mzuvukile Maqetuka’s tenure that an investigation was launched into the controversial Gupta family but it was later abandoned.
Several other department senior officials’ phones were also cloned and there was concern about whether any sensitive information was on them.
The vetting process came into focus in 2016 when some senior managers complained that the information they had provided was being used against them.
SSA evaluator Nokunqoba Dlamini told the Zondo commission of inquiry in her evidence that the law required that SAA executives be vetted by security.
Nokunqoba Dlamini was expected to give insight into the aviation industry, particularly South African Airways.
This was the second burglary at the State Security Agency in five years after the theft of R17 million in December 2015.
Shaik testified at the state capture commission of inquiry on Monday where he described former minister Siyabonga Cwele's interference in an investigation of the family as a dereliction of duty, which cost the state.
Mo Shaik took the stand at the state capture commission of inquiry on Monday, where he spent the morning discussing the legislation which underpinned the creation and set the mandate for the intelligence services.
The commission has called former senior officials Mo Shaik and Gibson Njenje to testify.
Judge Roland Sutherland ruled that the act, which allows the state to tap the phones of South Africans and monitor online conversations, was unconstitutional.
The State Security Agency has joined the war against gangsterism and wants more individuals linked to organised crime prosecuted.
Both laid charges at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria in March and April this year. The charges were later referred to the Hawks for further investigation.
State Security Agency ministerial adviser Bob Mhlanga questioned why State Security Minister Letsatsi-Duba suspended him so hastily on Friday before her term came to an end.
The move follows the axing of another special advisor Gibson Njenje three weeks ago and raises further concerns of a purge of staff and instability at the State Security Agency.
The State Security Agency (SSA) has denied claims that Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba was a paid spy for over a decade.
Last month, a report of a high-level panel found that State Security Agency was manipulated for factional political purposes under Siyabonga Cwele.
