BRATISLAVA, January 7, (WEBNOVINY) – The preparation of a new eavesdropping system used by the Interior Ministry and the intelligence service SIS is in its final phase. Interior Minister Daniel Lipsic expects that they will be able to complete the process shortly. The Cabinet approved in April the replacement of the system charging the Interior Minsitry to procure it in coordination with the intelligence service. The minister finds the change of the system important also due to regularly repeating leaks of transcripts from wiretappings.
“We have here a system installed by the SIS in 1997 in the era of Ivan Lexa,” said the minister who believes that nobody is currently able to provide a 100-percent guarantee that the current system does not enable illegal eavesdropping. The new system enables cross checking, which is not possible in the current one and in the event of illegal wiretapping it is able to detect the illegally eavesdropping perpetrator. Lipsic underscored that information on illegal wiretappings have been here for years but nobody has been convicted yet, which clearly proves that the system does not work. The second reason why it is necessary to purchase a new system is technological progress since 1997. „If we want to be effective in the fight against crime, mainly organized crime, terrorism or other threats the state cannot lag five steps behind the technological development, underscored the minister. He said that the modernization plan is a thorn in flesh of people who want to have the current state preserved.
The minister said that regarding overseeing intelligence services two initiatives exist. One is the creation of a new independent authority. However, Lipsic is not in favor of this idea, asking who would be at its helm and who would elect him. „It would be a political nominee again who would lead an office such as the National Security Office,“ he opines. The minister would rather prefer the responsible parliamentary committee to allow two of its members with security clearance, one from the coalition and one from the opposition, to have access to live input.
SITA