One of the main challenges for new director of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, Ján Valko, will be to make the work of the SIS more transparent. Valko, the former head of the JAVYS nuclear decommissioning company and a nominee of the ruling Smer party, announced his plans on May 3 after he officially replaced Karol Mitrík as head of the country’s main intelligence service, the SITA newswire reported.
“Ideally, the SIS will not suppress information, but protect classified information,” said Valko, as quoted by SITA.
He added that he hopes that the powers of the parliamentary committee overseeing the activities of the SIS will be widened in order to “achieve adequate and effective control of the SIS”.
Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that Valko has managerial skills which are important for the SIS job. Moreover, he said, the new SIS director meets what he called "the requirement of mutual trust".
“I am glad that Mr Valko’s language proficiency is very good, which will allow him to communicate very intensively in the Berne Club, the club of the most important intelligence services,” Fico added.
President Ivan Gašparovič also praised Valko's managerial experience. He said he believed that though the SIS job was something new for Valko, he would succeed.
“The information service has one particularity – the less you speak about it, the more it is responsible and better,” he said, as quoted by SITA.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
