US Ambassador: Today's Secret Service, not like '90s
17/08/2012

After a meeting that lasted more than 60 minutes with the opposition leader, Edi Rama, the US Ambassador, Alexander Arvizu, commented for the first time the replacement of the Secret Service Director, Bahri Shaqiri, when he was asked by Top Channel about the US position on this development.

The US diplomat gave maximal evaluations for the work done by Bahri Shaqiri, the discharged Director.

“The US sincerely owes Mr. Shaqiri for the characterized relations. According to the US perspective, he was a determined partner and helped building a strong cooperation between our services. We are very grateful for this. As regards his replacement, we think the changes are good, because a state official must not stay too long in one duty”, Arvizu declared.

Arvizu underlined that there were no preliminary consultations with the Prime Minister or President Nishani for the replacement of Bahri Shaqiri with Visho Ajazi. Arvizu sent a clear message not only to the new Secret Service Director when he said that the Albanian intelligence service today is not like the 90s, when Ajazi was part of it.

“What’s important, according to the US perspective, we have received guarantee from the Prime Minister and other people that the strong institutional cooperation with the Secret Service and the US will continue, and we are grateful for this. This is very important for our bilateral relations and also for the region. It is very important for the Secret Service to advance. We have worked a lot to develop this institution and make it be where it is today”, Arvizu declared.

“As regards the new Director, I haven’t met him yet but I will meet him after the holidays. I can say that he has inherited a much different institution from the one that was in the ‘90s. Today it is not the SHIK of the ‘90s, but the Secret Service of 2012. Albania was not a NATO member at that time, and this is very important for the Secret Service Director, as it was for Mr. Shaqiri. Being a NATO member is critically important for the Secret Service that will hold an activity with the continuity of Albania’s status as a NATO member”, the ambassador underlined.

During this Friday morning, Arvizu met the Albanian President, Bujar Nishani, and Prime Minister Sali Berisha, to who he presented his vice ambassador, Henry Jardine. Arvizu confirmed that during these they also discussed about the replacement of the Secret Service Director.