The Armenian Parliament adopted a bill on the establishment of the Foreign Intelligence Service.
Report informs referring to the Armenian media that 67 deputies voted for the bill and 33 voted against.
According to the bill, it is planned to remove the foreign intelligence unit from the National Security Service as a separate department. It will serve both military and civilians.
Earlier, when presenting the bill in parliament, Secretary of the Security Council of the republic Armen Grigoryan explained the decision by saying that some activities (for example, analyzing information from open sources) do not require the skills of military personnel and can be carried out by civilian analysts. As for military intelligence, it remains under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.
In order to avoid disruptions in the work of the state security agencies, the National Security Service will transfer the functions of foreign intelligence to the new service gradually, over three years.
Separation of the foreign intelligence from the National Security Service into a new department is part of the reform of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.