US Ambassador: Secrets, not in public
28/04/2014

Despite the smiles and hand-shakes, the seminary “Intelligence and Democracy” that started this Monday in one of the Ministry of Defense premises discussed the intelligence secrets, but its insinuations seemed to go only on one of the guests, the Director of the Secret Service.

“When we speak about intelligence service, we immediately think about secrecy. The main challenge that requires a solution is orienting the services and institutions that deal with the intelligence to respect the democratic system”, declared the Minister of Defense, Mimi Kodheli.

The United States Ambassador to Tirana, Alexander Arvizu, declared that the role of secret services and the parliamentary supervision are very delicate issues and that the secrets should not be made object of public debate.

“I want to underline how important is the development of a strong and fruitful work relation between government branches, such as the legislative and the executive. As part of this relation, the legislative has the obligation to write laws, to approve funds for government activities and to offer supervision that these funds and activities will be implemented properly”, Arvizu declared.

“The executive has the obligation to implement the laws as they are written and protect people through the government’s daily work. When we speak about intelligence elements, it is very sensitive, because it is understood how sensitive are the materials discussed during the commission’s sessions. These materials should not be made public”, the ambassador specified.

Besides the Secret Service leader, Visho Ajazi Lika, this seminar had Parliament Members of the Albanian Parliament, the Chief of Staff, Jeronim Baze, and military attaches in the partner countries.