President Gjorge Ivanov, today held a meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Macedonian Army (ARM), Commander of Joint Operations Command (JOC), directors and heads of the state bodies in charge of defense, security and intelligence, and the national Coordinator for Combating Terrorism, where they discussed what measures are needed to be taken about the current refugee crisis, but also to “change the position of the subjects in the national security system and their powers.”
The competent authorities have informed Ivanov that despite the engagement of the army and police on the state border, the officials exchanged and receive information from foreign partners from the European Union (EU) and NATO countries in the region, to identify the risks arising from illegal migration.
The data, according to a statement from the presidential office, explains the risks in the transfer of foreign terrorists, prevention of organized crime networks involved in the smuggling of people at risk, border control and security as many are passing through without or with forged documents. Also, checking the identity of foreign nationals and identifying people who have participated in military actions in crisis regions is extremely important to the security of the country.
During the meeting, as stated above, security consultations were made “because of the need to change the position of the subjects in the national security system and their need of material, personnel and technical facilities for dealing with threats. ”
“The threats we face demonstrate the need for increased communications and cooperation between all our Services, timely preventive responses, with greater transparency in the system of control of the Parliament and institutions”, Ivanov said. In addition, discussed at the meeting was the possibility of developing a defense system “with an emphasis on increasing the capacity of special forces and intelligence,” and developing an information system responsible for informing the bodies responsible for security and defence institutions which communicate with the Presidential office ” will be part of the duties in the new Strategy Defense of Macedonia.”
