US Slams Albania Secret Service Bill

Tirana | 12 March 2010 |

U.S. Ambassador to Albania John L. Withers

The US Ambassador in Tirana panned on Friday a series of proposed amendments to the law on the State Security Service, SHISH.

The amendments, if passed, would likely lead to the dismissal of the current state security director, Bahri Shaqiri, while giving the service the power to spy on public officials.

“It is vitally important for Albania to keep the secret service professional, independent and free of all political influence and we are worried that this bill undermines such principles, said Withers.

“In addition, this draft assigns troubling new domestic responsibilities to the intelligence service,” Withers addd.

The proposed bill, which makes a series of clarifications on the mission of SHISH, imposes a term limit of five years for the director's post and gives the service the possibility to spy on public officials, in what the government calls an “effort to thwart corruption. “

“Albania has worked hard to improve its international image and we fear that this draft law in its current form is damaging to that image,” Withers noted.............

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/26559/