site.btaDefence Information Service Chief to be Appointed by Presidential Decree

Defence Information Service Chief to be Appointed by  Presidential Decree

Sofia, May 20 (BTA) - Passing a military intelligence bill on
first reading Wednesday Parliament resolved that the leadership
of the Defence Information Service will be performed by a
director who shall be appointed for a term of five years by a
presidential decree, on a proposal of the Council of Ministers.
The same applies for his/her deputies. The Defence Information
Service head may be a senior officer or a civilian. The bill,
which was moved by Tsvetan Tsvetanov (GERB) and a group of MPs,
was passed in a 110-4 vote with five abstentions.

According to the bill, the head of the Defence Information
Service and his/her deputies are to have ten years' experience
in the area of national security or the armed forces; to have
access to top secret information; to be politically
non-affiliated; to hold a master's degree and to have Bulgarian
citizenship.

Heated disputes ensued about Tuesday's appointment of Yordan
Bakalov at the post.

Angel Naidenov (Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP) said Bakalov's
appointment contravenes at least three provisions in the bill:
the requirement for length of experience, the fact that the
appointment was apparently "a politically motivated appointment
by the Defence Minister", and that having a civilian head the
service set "a precedent". The MP recalled that earlier Bakalov
wanted to close the military intelligence service and now is
going to head it. The MP asked what will happen with Bakalov
when the bill enters force.

The BSP views the bill as the best response to doubts about
duplication of services or unhealthy rivalry between the
National Intelligence and the Defence Information Service.

Milen Mihov (Patriotic Front) said 10 years' experience was
insufficient and the service should be headed by a career
military intelligence officer. He added that this was a
principled position and was not meant as a criticism of the
current director.

Atanas Atanassov (Reformist Bloc), Chairman of the parliamentary
 Internal Security and Public Order Committee, criticized two
provisions. First, he opposed the provision that  the Defence
Information Service should have official representatives to
institutions with which it interacts in Bulgarian territory.
Second, he objected to the non-disclosure of the information
sources and the staff and former and present collaborators on
the grounds that those documents may contain information on
joint operations with the services of the former Soviet Union.

The MPs also differed on the advisability of transferring
military intelligence archives to the Secret Police Files
Committee. Both the proponents and the opponents offered
political arguments. Martin Dimitrov (Reformist Bloc) said he
was in favour of transferring the complete archives.

Yanko Yankov (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) approved of the
bill, saying that the Defence Information Service should serve
the State under the defence minister's leadership.

The bill regulates the service's interaction with state bodies
and institutions and EU and NATO entities. The Defence
Information Service provides information of an identical volume
and content to the President, the Parliament leader and the
Prime Minister.