Legislation, Lithuania

According to Lithuanian President, the need to make immediate restructuring changes evolved not only because of the evident shortcomings in coordinating and controlling intelligence and the politicized nature and insufficiently effective activities of the State Security Department, but also because of new threats to national security.

"The work of Lithuanian secret services must be depoliticized and organized in a way that would allow politicians responsible for national and economic security to immediately receive the necessary information for decision-making.

Reaching a political agreement on the control and coordination of intelligence marks the start of building a more effective intelligence system," the President underlined.

The President's initiated concept of intelligence provides for formulating clear and definite tasks to the secret services (State Security Department and Second Investigation Department under the Ministry of National Defense), outlining reporting procedures and strengthening the control of their activities.

The intelligence concept was developed in consultation with representatives and experts from NATO, EU institutions for intelligence supervision and control and from intelligence services as well as with the relevant Lithuanian institutions.

For the first time, the State Defense Council approved a list of national security threats and specific needs for intelligence information to be used for formulating concrete tasks to secret services.

The control of fulfilling these tasks will be exercised by the Intelligence Coordination Group to be set up by the State Defense Council, which will include representatives of the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Seimas, the Government, the parliamentary national security and defense committee, and intelligence services. The group will be headed by the State Defense Council Secretary and Chief Adviser to the President, Jonas Markevičius.

In the process of reforming the national intelligence system, the State Security Department will also be restructured. The State Defense Council will set out the priorities for the State Security Department, while the Department's leadership will have to develop a strategy to improve the quality of intelligence information and to review departmental functions.

To strengthen the intelligence system, the President will soon submit amendments to the Law on the State Security Department and the Law on Intelligence.