11.11.2011.

Military Security Agency marks its day

Members of the Military Security Agency, in the presence of state and military leadership, officially marked the day of the Agency - 12 in November.

The reception in the building of the Old General Staff HQ was also attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, Minister of Defense Dragan Sutanovac, Chief of the Serbian Army General Staff General Miloje Miletic, Serbian government ministers, representatives of the executive and legislative power, Mayor of Belgrade Dragan Djilas, the Serbian Patriarch Irinej and church dignitaries and diplomats as well as foreign military attaches.

Addressing those present, the President of Serbia Boris Tadic expressed his belief that many problems which had during the previous year, posed many challenges and trials to the security of our country, would soon be overcome.

- In terms of security, we can safely say that we are a safer country. There is no doubt that the credibility of our international security has increased, and that the overall credibility of Serbia and the Serbian people is at a higher level than it was before - said the Serbian President congratulating the members of the Military Security Agency their holiday.

- General Kovac, I believe that you will along with other members of the Military Security Agency continue to work, educate and train staff that would be a new force and a guarantee for our security in the years to come. The security sector is not a commercial and consumers sector, it is an investment in the future, investment in the development of our country. The coordination of the whole security sector is a necessary prerequisite of security of our country and our citizens, but also such coordination will ensure a higher level of investment, new job openings, secure investments of capital, which is the prerequisite for the development of any country, especially in circumstances where the whole world today is . We are all aware and are witness to the fact that the world has succumbed to financial problems, and in this context, all of our citizens should know that the security factor, our army, police, security services, the Bureau for Coordination of Security Agencies and the Association of National Security does not contribute to their work only the security of citizens, but the overall economic and technological development of our country, and ultimately raise the overall credibility of the Serbian people and state - the president said.

According to him, Serbia is facing security challenges, as well as many other countries, and we can not expect that all security challenges would be resolved at once. This situation is exacerbated by the constant threat not only from organized crime and corruption, but the threat of terrorism.

- It is essential that in terms of technological and personnel preparedness, our security services stand ready to meet the challenges in times to come. Serbia has a complex geo-strategic position. In economic terms this may be prove advantageous, in the political and security terms it is a burden. We do not want to change the space in which we want to live, nor is this theoretically possible, but it implies that our obligation in terms of security is to be ready to respond to the challenges we face, as the President stated, adding that he expected from the Military Intelligence Agency to continue to implement the coordination of all security intelligence functions within the National Security Council, and to defend the Serbian Army, and continues to work with other security sectors in the country, thus contributing to European and global stabilization.

"Last year we saw a marked change in the security domain. Serbia is not an importer but an exporter of security. Serbian operative act globally, working with many other security actors in the world and our contribution to the stability of other countries today is extremely high, considering the overall performance of our society, the gross domestic product, the size of our country's population. Only together we can defend our country and contribute to the safety of our citizens, said Tadic congratulating the Day of the Military Intelligence service to its members.

According to director of the Agency Svetko Kovac, this institution now has a rounded normative legal framework that complies with the European and international standards and adapted to the Serbian legal system.

- This is an opportunity to say that the VBA has in this year successfully carried all intelligence and counterintelligence tasks. In particular, I would like to emphasize that this year there was no organized criminal activity, which is not only our merit, but also a merit of preventive measures taken by other organs of the Ministry of Defence – Kovac remarked, adding that in recent years the number of cases of individual criminal activity and corruption had significantly decreased and today they do not currently pose a significant security threat.

In previous years, as the Director of the Military Security Agency said that the pyrotechnic safety had been greatly improved so today there are no unexploded ordnance kept outdoors.

- This year, we also modernized the Operations Center, and thanks to the great understanding and the help of the government and other agencies, we have today a very modern department where we manage all and used for other needs of the Agency, said Kovac expressing special appreciation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Telekom Serbia for their assistance.

He announced that next year the Agency would be directly involved in security protection of the Serbian Armed Forces participation in peacekeeping operations.

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In accordance with the development and application of modern technologies in the intelligence of terrorist or other threats, the Military Security Agency as a modern security service, pays special attention to the security of information systems and computer networks used by the Army of Serbia and the Ministry of Defence – as Svetko Kovac said, adding that this will enable the agency to verify that the modern
counterintelligence, which corresponds to the changing security challenges and to provide its full contribution to the safety of the citizens of Serbia.

At the end of his presentation, Director of the Military Security Agency has particularly emphasized that the Agency each year participates in various humanitarian activities, and this year it took part in the campaign to raise funds for neonatal incubators, the campaign called “Battle for babies”.

The Day of the Military Security Agency - 12 November is celebrated to commemorate the day in 1839, when the first military was law passed which listed specific acts that could be declared treason, espionage, rebellion and other crimes that threaten the army and state.