21.06.2013.

Promotion of the monograph "Military security service in Serbia"

In the ceremonial hall of the Central Military Club the monograph "Military Security in Serbia" by Svetko Kovac and Irena Popovic Grigorov was presented today. The monograph is an expression of the agency’s desire to present the historical path and major problems the service has dealt with in the most difficult times for Serbia, as it will open the doors to the public and reveal some of its best-kept secrets.

As pointed out by Svetko Kovac, one of the authors and director of the Military Security Agency, the book provides an opportunity to examine the historical development of military security, the scope and responsibilities, mechanisms of control, organization and management, and other issues relevant to its work.

- The monograph presents a few interesting cases, as well as segments of some of them, or we linked some similar themes, such as views that the security services managed to intercept the connections between agents and their respective intelligence services. It gives a very interesting overview of how everything worked from the first day until modern times - said Kovac, noting that what makes this work unique is the fact that almost all the documents and information published in it are from the archives of the VBA and are made available to the public for the first time.

He also expressed the hope that this work would be of interest to professionals and the general public, but also an inspiration for many researchers who will be able to analyze the role and influence of the military security in some crucial historical moments.

In order to conclude a comprehensive picture of the development of military security in Serbia, which was always followed the secrets and mysteries, according to Irena Popovic Grigorov, the authors started from fragments of events that were scattered in time.

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What makes this book different is that for the first time in public, on the basis of authentic documents we have shown several major operations conducted by the service, and that we have selected some typical cases of agent acting for foreign intelligence services, activities of terrorist and other illegal organizations in the army, prevention of infiltration of commando espionage groups as well as sabotaging groups in the country, and the terrorist activities of Albanian separatists in Kosovo in 1990s - said Popovic Grigorov adding that perhaps, the most interesting part to the public are those cases related to files compiled based on the work of the military security service, files stored in a special military archives, of which the oldest from the time the Gestapo. An important part of the monograph, as she pointed out, is dedicated to the people whose work marked this service, and whose life stories and destinies encapsulate the true history of this service.

Speaking of the historical and geographical value of the book, the reviewer, historian Bojan Dimitrijevic, PhD, expressed his satisfaction that he was able to work on the historical facts that had not been presented to the public before.

- The monograph is a real discovery in the field of military historiography in this area, and it will be read, as I predict, repeatedly, everyone reading it in its own way. It is a balanced history of the Military Intelligence Service, and depicts how the intelligence service existed when the security service, de facto, still did not exist- he concluded saying that the act simultaneously debunks a series of some of the negative stereotypes and present this service as it exists today, in a new and complex world, where the Military Security Service is facing new challenges.

According to the director of the Media Center "Odbrana" Lieutenant Colonel Slavoljub Markovic, this book which traces a 200 year old history of security and defense services is richly illustrated, and is a significant contribution to the monograph edition of this publishing house.

On today's promotion, the audience had a chance to hear some excerpts from monographs read by actors Lazar Ristovski, Ivan Mihailovic and Dragana Dabovic.