Government approves bill on creating Foreign Intelligence Service

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia approved today the bill “On Foreign Intelligence Activity and Foreign Intelligence Service”.

Introducing the bill at the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan said that it proposes to create a new Foreign Intelligence Service as a public administration body subject to the prime minister.

“There is a political decision to create a new type of state service, which will not be as a military service”, he said, adding that the creation of the Foreign Intelligence Service will contribute not only to raising the functional efficiency of the National Security Service, providing an opportunity to focus on anti-intelligence and anti-terrorism directions, but also will allow to respond to the global and regional challenges in a more flexible and adequate way.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in turn said that the world is changing, and the foreign intelligence forms and methods are also undergoing major changes, therefore, he highlighted the need for Armenia to be able to transform and develop its capacities in accordance with the contemporary conditions and requirements.

“In this sense, I think that one of the most important records is that we see that the intelligence methods, forms and formulas in the world are developing in a way that they are not always having a direct link with a military service. We have made a decision in this regard, and it is mentioned in Armenia’s 2050 Transformation Strategy: that is to create a Foreign Intelligence Service as a body subordinate to the Prime Minister”, PM Pashinyan said.