Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has enacted the Law on Intelligence, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on September 17, 2020.
An official ceremony to sign the bill into law took place during the president's visit to the Information Department of the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) of Ukraine on the occasion of the 17th anniversary of the creation of the SBGS intelligence, the presidential office reported.
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"Today, I am signing the Law of Ukraine on Intelligence adopted by the Verkhovna Rada. The implementation of the provisions of this law will allow creating an effective system of Ukrainian intelligence, which will correspond to the nature and large-scale current threats to the national security of Ukraine," Zelensky said and signed the document.
According to him, the legislative support for intelligence will facilitate the timely detection, prevention and neutralization of threats and increase the ability of intelligence to obtain and provide consumers with high-quality intelligence information.
"It should be remembered that the issue of intelligence is a priority, and intelligence materials are the basis for making important government decisions. That is why this law is not only new opportunities and new capabilities for intelligence, but also a great responsibility for the state, which needs to significantly strengthen the strategic and operational components of intelligence, improve analytical work and the quality of information obtained," he said.
The president expressed confidence that all tasks would be performed by intelligence at the highest level. "Performed qualitatively, performed professionally, as always," he added.
Law on Intelligence: In brief
- The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, adopted a draft law on intelligence on September 17.
- The document determines the Foreign Intelligence Service, the Defense Ministry's intelligence agency, as well as an intelligence department of the central executive agency that implements state policy in the field of protecting the national border are intelligence agencies in Ukraine.
- At the same time, it stipulates that counterintelligence units of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine may also be engaged in intelligence activities to obtain information in the interests of counterintelligence. The list of such units is determined by the president of Ukraine.
- The president also defines the organizational structure of an intelligence agency, while the total number of personnel of the Foreign Intelligence Service shall be determined by law. The relevant service carries out intelligence activities in the foreign policy, economic, military-technical, scientific-technical, information, environmental, and cybersecurity fields.
- According to the law, the intelligence agencies are headed by officials who are appointed and dismissed by the president of Ukraine.
- The Law on Intelligence is designed to contribute to the reform of Ukraine's security and defense sector and will be an important step forward in relations with NATO.
