14.11.2009.
Svetko Kovac, Director of VBA for Blic daily
The Inspector will be informed who the Military Security Agency is tapping
The reforms of the military services will have lasted from 2002 to 2010. So far we have rounded up the legal framework for the security agencies which enables an effective and operational functioning of the agency. The agency is organized in such a way that it effectively protects the system of defense. In 2010 we are planning to reconsider and upgrade certain reforms solutions, thus ending the planning part of the reform process, as Svetko Kovac, the Head of the Military Security Agency stated in an interview to Blic daily.AS the Director of VBA states crucial personnel reforms took place as this is the most delicate part of reforms.
-So far we have changed 70 % of personnel, where 20 % of personnel are civilians, and we expect an increase in the number of civilian employees in the agency in the next period. Some 45 % have finished their postgraduate studies, and in the period 2001-2006 on different terms some 360 people were dismissed, mostly officers, 260 of them. We employ personnel based on their application, and they come from various lines of works, and are almost all university-educated.
How will the recently adopted acts on VBA and VOA (Military Security and Military Intelligence Agencies respectively affect the functioning of these two services?
The new law has given us the freedom and authority which could enable the agency to respond to various security challenges and threats, while at the same time we have boosted the mechanisms of control and surveillance of the executive authorities with an existing control. In operational sense, special measures are an inevitable means of countering and preventing the threats to our national safety. We gather all data in order to obtain information on possible threats, and for the purposes of a court proceedings or to bring charges against someone based on this information.
How many persons are being tapped at the moment?
-I do not have that list on me at the moment.
The number you revealed last year, 35, seems unrealistically small?
We claim that this is the number of tapped persons. Special measures are taken if we are unable to obtain information through other channels, and there is a whole range of measures which can help us obtain this information. Even the Parliamentary Board for Security is well aware of the structure of people we are tapping.
Is there a possibility for the Board to check this number?
Yes, there is.
Have they already tried to check this data?
You would have to ask them. By the way, this information we gather are linked to intercept and prevent the threats against SAF and MoD. Based on the data collected, VBA analyzes and takes certain measures and activities, and submits the information and its assessments to the organs in charge of this.
When do you expect that the General Inspector be appointed?
VBA will not affect the appointment of the General Inspector, and I expect this to happen in the first half of the next year.
Will he be cognizant of the fact who you are tapping?
That is correct. He will not only be informed who this person is but also whether this is a lawful interception or not.
Do you fear that the General Inspector might reveal the secrets you would not otherwise wish the public to know?
Basically, the General Inspector will not care about the secret data.
Will the General Inspector have an insight into these secret?
- No. He will be interested in the legitimacy and the procedures regarding the implementation of measures and he will not get involved into the results of his service. We will submit results, information and procedures to the minister of defense and not the inspector. The General Inspector uses the mechanisms it has authority to use in order to check whether we have obtained the information in a legal way and informs the minister and the Security Council. His role is to control the legitimacy of the Agency’s work. The minister of defense coordinates, controls the work of secret services, while the inspector controls their work in accordance with its legal competences.
Expert public objects mostly the fact that the General Inspector has to be a person with at least nine years in the field, which was actually interpreted that this means that someone from your ranks would control you?
- The law defined the conditions necessary to appoint a General Inspector. He does not have to be an operational officer in these agencies, but must be steeped in security issues. It can even be a person who has not spnt a single day working in security services.
How is the search for ICTY fugitives progressing?
- Performing tasks within cooperation with the ICTY is one of VBA’s priorities, and based on the results achieved so far I can safely say that there are no indications that any of the ICTY fugitives is staying in any of the facilities under the charge of MoD. Furthermore, no MoD or SAF member is hiding any fugitives.
Does this guarantee go for the retired members of SAF as well?
- WE have no concrete data for our retired members, as they are not only under our authority, therefore we cannot claim this with certainty as for our active members. This still remains as an option. Mladic was seen in military objects for the last time on 1 June 2002, and this was explained.
Do you have any idea where he might be hiding or if he is alive at all?
- I do not know his whereabouts, yet I am certain where he is not hiding. He is not in military compounds and is not being protected by MoD and SAF members, and all other information is pure speculation.
How do you explain the fact that he has evaded the justice for so long in such a small country as Serbia?
- There are many other examples of fugitives hiding far longer than Mladic. I do not say that this is normal, yet this is not some unprecedented case by comparison to other fugitives in some other countries.
Defining the terrorist threats
In the defense strategy, terrorism was listed as one of potential threats and a risk to the security of Serbia? Does this mean that there have been attempts of terrorist act at the territory of Serbia?
-All preventive measures are taken in order to prevent such attacks, and all such activities are directed in the south of Serbia against such acts of terrorism. In July there was a terrorist attack on the Gendarmerie base, then on the accommodation facility for the Police and SAF members. These were all forms of terrorist acts. Such terrorist intentions were not recorder against SAF or MoD, yet we are always in the process of gathering information to assess if there are any potential risks for that. The purpose of our measures is to pinpoint a threat and to propose a set of measures to prevent these activities.
So the violent deaths of the members of the Guards have nothing to do with Mladic
Has Mladic ever hidden in the Topcider barracks, as Del Ponte claims, at the time when two members of the Guard were killed?
- That was a tragedy both for the families and the Serbian armed forces, however, VBA was not involved in solving this murder case as that was not seen as an act of terrorism. However, our task was to determine whether this had anything to do with the hiding of some ICTY fugitives. We have no indications that Mladic had ever been in any military facility or any other ICTY fugitive. We found no link between the murder of the two guardsmen and the hiding of ICTY fugitives.
Author: Tanja Nikolic-Djakovic
