Agency for National Security Petko Sertov said he had the
support of Bulgarias Western allies despite the fact he had
worked for communist-era secret services. On December 27
Sertov was presented to the media by Prime Minister Sergei
Stanishev.
Photo: ANELIA NIKOLOVA
Petko Sertov was appointed head of the newly formed State Agency for National Security (SANS). On December 27 Sertov was presented to the media by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Interior Minister Roumen Petkov. According to the law adopted by Parliament on December 4 Stanishev nominated Sertov for the post and his appointment was approved by President Georgi Purvanov.
At the December 27 news conference Sertov disappointed the media by saying that he would not be meeting them very often due to the nature of SANSs work. According to the law that came into force on January 1 2008, the National Security Service of the Interior Ministry, the Military Counterintelligence from the Defence Ministry and Financial Intelligence Agency from the Finance Ministry all became part of SANS.
A personal initiative of Stanishev, SANS was advertised as a super agency to fight drug trafficking, money laundering and top-level corruption. It will also exercise control over the length of stay of foreigners in the country with relation to terrorist threats. According to unofficial information, nearly 3000 people will work for the new agency. They will have the right to trace, eavesdrop, detain and search people. SANS chairperson will be subject to Parliaments control.
The opposition strongly protested about the length of the leadership term for SANS because of all the powers that the position holds. The term is set, by law, at five years. The law did not include any conditions about people that had worked for former communist security police State Security being appointed to the SANS leadership.
Sertovs nomination was not a surprise since opposition leaders had been saying for weeks that the law on SANS was made to suit his appointment.
I have worked for the State Security in the years when Bulgaria was under communism, Sertov told the news conference.
Sertov graduated from Sofia's University of World and National Economy in 1982 and in 1984 joined State Security. He had also trained at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de la Police in Lyon. He worked in the Interior Ministry until 1997. Prior to his appointment as the head of SANS he was chairman of the National Security Council within the government.
I understand the responsibility of being in charge of SANS but I want to make it clear that I have had wonderful relations with Bulgarias Western partners who have always supported me notwithstanding my career with the State Security, he said.
Stanishev said that a ban prohibiting former employees of State Security from being appointed to SANS was a vicious one and he had fought to keep it from being implemented. Such a ban would have meant the dismissal of fifty per cent of those employed there Stanishev said.
He had a word for those saying that SANS will duplicate most of Interior Ministrys work. I believe the Interior Ministry and SANS will complement each other in achieving their common goal of national security in all its dimensions.
The names of Sertovs deputies were also given, the current head of the National Security Agency Ivan Drashkov and that of the Security, Military Police and Counterintelligence Agency, Brigadier General Nikolai Nikolov.
