On November 8 the Hungarian Parliament opened a general debate on the proposed amendment to the Act on establishing a new organization for the military national security services. In his keynote speech Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende said “During the last 20 years, time after time the opportunity emerged to integrate the two military secret services, the Military Security Office and the Military Intelligence Office. Now we have the will and opportunity to implement the integration.”

To help the preparation of the proposed amendment to the Act, which is based on a concept developed by subject matter experts, the Ministry of Defence held preliminary consultations with the relevant committees of the Parliament and there was a five-party discussion on the topic as well.

In his keynote address the Minister said that “A new and integrated organization can better serve the goals of a unified military command and coordination of intelligence and counter-intelligence work. It can better serve the goals of gathering information in the fields of military policy, military technology and the armed forces, as is required by the planning and organizing activities of the Ministry of Defence and the MoD Defence Staff, and the simultaneous execution of the core tasks in the field of military counter-intelligence. The new organization will eliminate unnecessary duplications and boost the flow of information. The two organizations – which have so far been operating separately –, will complement each others’ expertise, which increases the quality of knowledge management for the personnel. This will enable us to provide more effective and reliable support to the HDF contingents deployed in the areas of operations, and this in turn is going to increase the force protection level of the Hungarian troops on missions abroad. Let me note that our allies have praised the high professional standards of both organizations”, Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende said in his keynote speech.

(Ministry of Defence)