Bulgaria
Security & Intelligence Apparatus
Services subordinated to the President
National Intelligence Service
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) is the successor to the 1st Chief Directorate of former communist State Security. The 1st Chief Directorate was formed with Soviet assistance and gained considerable notoriety in 1978 when it was accused of murdering the prominent Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in London.
The National Intelligence Service is Bulgaria’s primary foreign intelligence organisation. It is responsible for counter-espionage and monitoring activities abroad. The work of the NIS is regulated by Decree N 152 of the former State Council (Darzhaven savet) and Presidential Decree N 17 1990, which subordinate the NIS to the President of the Republic. However, there is no dedicated law that places the NIS under the the hat of the President and as a result the service is operating in a legal vaccuum.
Maj. Gen. Kircho Kirov is heading the NIS, while Brig. Gen. Lyudmil Angelov is its Deputy Director. The NIS comprises five directorates responsible for operational activities, information and analyses, protection of information, human resources and logistics, and international cooperation and public relations.
National Protection Service
The National Protection Service (NPS) was formed from the Department of Security and Protection, which former communist dictator Todor Zhivkov had turned into a massive organisation with unspecified functions ranging from personal protection to supplying imported cars to high communist party officials.
The new protection service is a much smaller unit, which is confined to physical protection of government officials and foreign dignitaries.
The NPS is headed by Lt. Gen. Rumen Milanov.
Services subordinated to the Minister of Defence
Defence Information Service
During Ivan Kostov's government (1997-2001) the military intelligence was taken away from the GS of the BAF and renamed the Defence Information Service (DIS). More importantly, it was subordinated directly to the Minister of Defence. The GS of the BAF retained only the tactical army intelligence.
The main tasks of the DIS include gathering, processing, analysing and disseminating information for defence and national security interests.
The military and political situation in South East Europe; regional tensions, influencing the security of the Republic of Bulgaria; the state of international security and stability; the progress of disarmament and the arms control; the fight against organised crime, illegal trafficking of people, weapons, conventional and nuclear arms and drugs; the development of international military and military-economic co-operation etc. are being constantly analysed.
DIS's analyses are distributed to the state administration, the Chief of the General Staff, the Chiefs of Staffs of the armed forces branches, the directors of national services within the system of Ministry of Interior (MoI) etc. The President, the Chairman of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister receive information equal by volume and content. Information is also being exchanged with foreign government agencies under international and inter-departmental agreements.
Since February 2002, the head of the DIS is Maj. Gen. Plamen Studenkov. Brigadier General Stefan Stefanov is Studenkov's deputy.
In accordance with the aims of the Strategic Defence Review (adopted by the National Assembly in June 2004) two important documents were elaborated that are connected with the work of the DIS, namely the Vision for Reorganisation of the DIS and the Plan for Organisational Development of the DIS by 2015. Both documents, which are classified, provided for the organisational restructuring of the service to meet the new security realities.
Sine 2004 the DIS has incraesed its activity as regards its support for Bulgarian missions abroad and is now dispatching DIS officers as part of the Bulgarian peace keeping contingents. DIS is also commited to expanding its zone of operational responsibility including farther regions that generate instability and insecurity.
"Security"-Military Counterintelligence and Military Police Service
The service was established in 1999 with the merger of the military counterintelligence directorate at the GS and the military police. Since then the service has been subordinated to the Minister of Defence.
According to Maj. Gen. Orlin Ivanov, incumbent director of this service, its work suffered greatly from the varous incosnsistent reforms in the post-communist period. However, it is now a respected partner of Bulgaria's western allies. In 2003 it was one of the two national sevices that were awarded a NOS (NATO Office for Security) certiface for its contribution to the collective defence.
The service contributes officers to the Bulgarian missions abroad, most notably Afghanistan and Iraq.
Services subordinated to the Ministry of Interior
In the national security system, the MoI is the body responsible for the nation’s internal security: the guarding of state borders, the control over border zones and the checkpoint border zones, the aquatorial zone and the Bulgarian section of the Danube. It counters armed and other breaches of state border along with the Armed Forces. The MoI also carries out fire-fighting and search and rescue activities.
Information about direct threats to national security, breaches of national air space and aquatoria of the Republic of Bulgaria is exchanged on a regular basis between the MoD and the MoI, as well as intelligence and counter-intelligence information about the activities of foreign special services and terrorist organisations.
Under the new MoI Act, adopted in February 2006, and in accordance with EU requirements all services subordinated to the MoI were demilitarised. Also, the National Service for Combat Against Orginised Crime (NSCOC) was transformed into a General Directorate, subordinated to the National Police Service.
The General Directorate for Combat Against Organised Crime (GDCOC) performs anti-organised crime tasks connected with: fraud; terrorist activities; corruption; trafficking in human beings; drug trafficking; illegal trafficking in weapons and small arms; computer crime; intellectual property; etc.
The GDCOC is headed by Vanyu Tanov.
National Security Service (NSS)
By way of comparison, the NSS, Bulgaria's primary counter-intelligence organisation, kept its status as independent centralised service within the ministry’s framework.
The NSS (called the National Service for Defence of the Constitution before mid-1991) is responsible for identifying and countering foreign intelligence, subversive or terrorist activities affecting the security, territorial integrity, or sovereignty of the country. It has authority for domestic law enforcement in cases involving international criminal activity, organised crime, smuggling, political corruption and illegal fascist or nationalist organisations.
Incumbent NSS head is Ivan Drashkov.
Structures subordinate to the Council of Ministers
State Commission on Information Security
Bulgaria seems to have made only modest progress in the field of protection of classified information, since the delayed appointment of the State Commission on Information Security in the autumn of 2002, several months after the passing of the Classified Information Act. The continuing organisational problems of the Commission would seem to be a matter for serious concern, considering the significant workload that is expected. The incumbent head of the Commission is Tsveta Markova.