Việt Nam 2025: The Power Expansion of the Ministry of Public Security

Since former Minister of Public Security Tô Lâm became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam in August 2024, the public security sector has witnessed a clear expansion of power. [1] Observers have likened the modern Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to a “super-ministry,” with some describing the current political period as a “police state.” [2] [3]

The following timeline records the milestones of 2025, a pivotal year in which the MPS systematically expanded its duties, financial resources, and authority.

January: Financial and Administrative Foundations

Jan. 1: Decree No. 168/2024 took effect, significantly increasing penalties for traffic violations. For example, motorcyclists running red lights now face fines of 4 million to 6 million đồng—five times higher than before. Crucially, 85% of revenue from these fines is allocated to the MPS, with only 15% going to fund traffic safety enforcement. [4] [5]

Jan. 11: The Ministry of Home Affairs submitted Report No. 219/BC-BNV, proposing that the MPS assume seven new responsibilities: [6] [7] 

• Managing the MobiFone telecommunications corporation [8]
• Drug rehabilitation and combating social evils.
• Issuing judicial record certificates and driver’s licenses.
• Ensuring security and order in border and checkpoint areas.
• Managing immigration.
• Ensuring information safety and cybersecurity.
• Ensuring aviation security.

February: Structural Consolidation

Feb. 18: The government issued Decree No. 02/2025, officially transferring five duties from other ministries and agencies to the MPS: [9]

• Information security (from the Ministry of Information and Communications).
• Aviation security (from the Ministry of Transport).
• Driver testing and licensing (from the Ministry of Transport).
• Drug rehabilitation (from the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs).
• Judicial records (from the Ministry of Justice).

Simultaneously, the decree eliminated district-level public security forces, transferring 53 functions directly to provincial and communal police.

Feb. 27: Deputy Prime Minister Hồ Đức Phớc signed Official Dispatch No. 223/TTg-ĐMDN transferring MobiFone—Việt Nam’s first mobile provider with 2024 pre-tax profits of 2.048 trillion đồng—from state capital management to the MPS. The ministry plans to develop MobiFone into a security-defense enterprise similar to Viettel. [10] [11] [12]

The MPS also issued Circular No. 11/2025/TT-BCA, expanding criminal investigation authority—for a number of offenses listed in the 2015 Criminal Code—down to the provincial level and assigning investigative duties to specialized units like Traffic Police, Fire Prevention, and High-Tech Crime Prevention. [13] [14]

March – June: Restructuring and Legal Control

March 1: Decree No. 02/2025 and Circular No. 11/2025 took effect. The MPS dissolved all district-level police units and began absorbing its newly assigned responsibilities. [15]

March 28: Deputy Prime Minister Lê Thành Long signed Decision No. 690/QĐ-TTg approving plans to amend the Criminal Code., a role traditionally held by the Ministry of Justice. [16] [17]

May 6 – May 29: The MPS managed public feedback for constitutional amendments via the VNeID application. [18]

June 22: A nationwide police reorganization resulted in 34 provincial-level agencies and 3,319 communal-level units. Staffing at the communal level tripled to between 30 and 60 officers per commune. [19] [20]

June 25: The National Assembly passed amendments to the Criminal Code, granting communal police the authority to prosecute minor offenses. [21]

June 26: The Personal Data Protection Law was passed. The MPS was designated as the enforcement authority, granting it power to access personal data without consent for “national security” and to compel businesses to surrender user data without court approval. The MPS was also tasked to build a national information portal for personal data protection. However, this portal was already being developed. [22] [23] [24] [25]

July – September: Surveillance and Banking

July 1: Circular No. 53/2025/TT-BCA further expanded communal police powers to include regular and ad hoc residence inspections. [26]

Sept. 15: The State Bank issued Circular No. 27/2025/TT-NHNN (effective Nov. 1), requiring banks to report domestic transactions of 500 million đồng or more and international transactions of USD 1,000 or more directly to the MPS. [27]

October: Digital Integration and International Cooperation

Oct. 15: The MPS began collecting feedback for the 14th Party Congress documents via VNeID. [28]

Oct. 20: Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính signed Decision No. 2321 for further Criminal Code amendments, again designating the MPS as the lead drafting agency. [29] [30] [31]

Oct. 21: The MPS announced features to track land and housing ownership via VNeID. However, current Vietnamese law does not allow the integration of land title and home ownership information into VNeID. This idea only appeared in proposed amendments to Decree No. 69/2024/NĐ-CP; public consultation on this draft ended earlier in the month. [32] [33] [34]

Oct. 24: The State Bank requested coordination with the MPS, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Government Inspectorate in monitoring foreign exchange activities across the economy. [35]

Oct. 25–26: Hà Nội hosted the UN signing ceremony for the Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes. The MPS served as the standing body, working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other agencies. [36] [37] [38]

Oct. 30: The issuance of Decree No. 282/2025/NĐ-CP increased the fining power of communal police chiefs by 10 to 15 times (up to 37.5 million đồng) and granted them authority to revoke business licenses and suspend business operations. [39] [40]

November – December: The Total Security State

Nov. 26: The National Assembly passed the Extradition Law—alongside three other related laws—assigning enforcement authority to the MPS. [41]

Nov. 27: the State Bank reported that it had forwarded more than 5,000 suspicious transactions to the MPS for investigation. [42]

Nov. 29: Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính placed the MPS in charge of implementing the Personal Data Protection Law. [43]

Dec. 3: The National Assembly passed amendments to the Ordinance on Environmental Police. [44] Accordingly:

• Communal police were officially recognized as part of the environmental crime prevention force.
• Police chiefs were given authority to issue written orders to inspect the environmental compliance of agencies, organizations, and individuals.
• Dedicated environmental enforcement staff were to be stationed at the communal level.

Dec. 5: The National Assembly passed amendments to the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement (effective July 2026), requiring criminal evidence stored elsewhere to be transferred to the MPS by 2028. [45]

Dec. 9: Delegate Phạm Văn Hòa proposed increasing communal police staffing further, citing the motto: “Stay awake so the people can sleep; stand guard so the people can enjoy life.” [46]

Dec. 10: The National Assembly passed the revised Cybersecurity Law and Press Law (effective July 2026).

• Cybersecurity Law: Online service providers must identify user IP addresses and surrender them to the police upon request. The MPS gained unified control over national cybersecurity. [47] [48] [49]
• Press Law: Investigation heads can now compel journalists and media organizations to disclose their sources—a power previously held only by prosecutors and courts. The MPS will also oversee content on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. [50] [51]

Dec. 12: The MPS released a draft resolution on “digital citizen development” for public feedback. It proposes a unified national e-wallet integrated with VNeID. [52] [53] Article 6 of the draft also proposes a “digital citizen score” within VNeID, categorizing citizens based on data verification and online behavior. Higher scores would grant preferential benefits, marking a significant shift toward automated social management.

Trường An wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on Dec. 20, 2025. Đàm Vĩnh Hằng translated it into English for The Vietnamese Magazine.