BRATISLAVA, August 18, (WEBNOVINY) – Milan Hudec had to say farewell to the post of the head of Military Intelligence Service due to the security clearance affair. Instead, Defense Minister Lubomir Galko (SaS) appointed Roman Mikulec to this post last Friday, the spokesman for the department Richard Sumeghy informed.
New head of the Military Intelligence Service Roman Mikulec started in his new post Wednesday, Galko told reporters after the Cabinet session. „He is already effective in his service. Today, I introduced him to the people who work there,“ Galko said. He claims that Mikulec is an expert who has no political background. No one should have doubts about Mikulec´s security clearance, according to Galko. „He is a man directly from inside the service, so his clearance is valid,“ he said.
Defense Minister suspended Milan Hudec only after a few days in the office as the head of the Slovak Military Intelligence Service after intelligence services warned him about the irregularities in Hudec´s security clearance. Some documents regarding his security clearance could have been issued before they were requested, and it is possible that they were manipulated, Galko suggested. The Minister ordered a new security clearance to Hudec, until then Hudec should be a non-classified soldier in reserve.
Insufficient clearance resulted in a verbal shoot-out between the opposition and the Minister. The chairman of the opposition party Smer-SD, Robert Fico initiated the convocation of the Parliamentary Committee overseeing the Slovak Military Intelligence Service. In return, Galko accused Fico of having presented highly confidential materials at his news conferences. Last week, Fico showed a document on television which he claimed was a security clearance of Milan Hudec signed by Defense Minister Galko. According to Galko, Robert Fico presented something that can be obtained only through criminal activities.
Consequently, speculation about a possible attempt to remove Galko from his office emerged. The Ministry of Defense also examined whether the possible error in the security clearance was not an intention to harm the interests of the defense department and Minister Galko himself.
SITA