The National Security Agency (ANB) has prepared new internal rules, which define in more detail the reasons for termination of employment "due to the needs of the service", but also due to security obstacles, thus preparing a one-way ticket for dozens of compromised or useless operatives.
The Rulebook on the reasons, criteria and procedure for the termination of employment of an authorized officer with the exercise of the right to an old-age pension opens up space for a broader interpretation of personnel and security reasons, than has been explicitly regulated by the Law on the National Security Agency (ANSA) so far.
The bylaw introduces new rules, which practically expand the catalog of reasons for the Agency to retire or remove employees it assesses as redundant or as security-compromised personnel, without the need to conduct disciplinary proceedings or prove any security obstacles to further work.
Attorney Veselin Radulović He assessed for "Vijesti" that the new ANB Rulebook and the broader normative framework, established by the latest amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs and the Law on ANB, open up serious space for implementing a kind of non-transparent "vetting" or institutional "purge" within the security sector.
"A particular problem is that the assessment of 'security concerns' or security reasons for termination of employment is based on broadly set and imprecise criteria, with limited possibility of judicial and public control, while at the same time the consequences for civil servants can be reduced to de facto removal from the system - either through termination of employment, retirement or other status changes - without conducting disciplinary or any other adversarial proceedings," Radulović explained.
This, he stressed, creates the risk that the institute of security clearance will become an instrument for the discretionary removal of the "unsuitable", rather than a legal and demonstrable mechanism for protecting the integrity of the service.
"It is worrying that key elements of the procedure rely on internal and secret acts, without clearly defined standards of proof and effective procedural guarantees for the person to whom the check applies. Representatives of the civil sector and the professional community in Montenegro have already warned of similar risks and insufficiently precisely regulated procedures."
“Personnel and security reasons”
The Rulebook specifically elaborates on "personnel reasons" and "security reasons" for termination of employment, with direct reference to modernization, digitalization, rationalization and reorganization of the service. Specific reasons for termination of employment include the mismatch of the employee's knowledge and skills with the needs of the job, excess of a certain profile, uneven or inadequate personnel structure, and unadaptation to modernization, digitalization and improvement of work processes.
The newspaper also stipulates that dismissal can only occur after the ANB has previously analyzed the possibility of assigning the employee to another job, but if such a possibility does not exist due to staffing or inadequate qualifications - the employment relationship may be terminated.
It is particularly interesting that the reasons mentioned include "digitalization" and "modernization of work processes", which has not been defined by the existing legal framework so far, because the current Law on the National Security Agency allows for termination of employment with qualifications "due to service needs", but such provisions were not explained in detail as through a by-law.
The regulation also elaborates on "security reasons" for terminating work in the secret service, for those agents for whom a five-member commission, formed by the director, reaches the opinion that their continued engagement due to compromised identities could jeopardize the protection of classified information, but also render their further operational engagement meaningless.
It is clear that the ANB continues the practice according to which a security assessment can have direct consequences on the legal and labor status of employees, but this document gives the service's management significantly broader powers in personnel management.
Security reasons include: circumstances or knowledge due to which the identity, engagement, operational status or connection of an officer with certain operations, methods of work, sources or secret data became known to unauthorized persons, the public, foreign services or other entities in a manner that may endanger the safety of the officer or other persons, compromise, make difficult or meaningless the further implementation of operations or covert activities, endanger the protection of secret data, sources or methods of work of the Agency.
The Rulebook stipulates that the existence of "permanent circumstances" which, although not constituting security obstacles under Article 69 of the ANB Law, objectively prevent the further performance of tasks, which involve access to classified information, covert operations, work with sources or other operational activities of particular importance to the Agency.
The Rulebook clearly states that these reasons must be based on a documented safety assessment by the competent organizational unit of the Agency.
"If the security assessment contains classified information, an appropriate summary of the reasons shall be prepared, which shall not be marked with a level of secrecy, to the extent that it does not endanger national security, operations, covert activities, sources, working methods, protection of classified information or other interests of the Agency," the document states.
This practically means that the ANB can assess that an officer is no longer operationally useful, even though he has not formally been compromised in terms of discipline or security.
The decision on which authorized officer's employment will be terminated for one or more reasons is made on the basis of "objective, verifiable and mutually comparable criteria, with the mandatory application of the principles of equal treatment, proportionality and job needs".
ANB, after arrival Ivica Janović to head the secret service, has been trying to legally shape how to get rid of compromised operatives since last summer.
The proposed law was held up by Brussels for months, and after months of consultations and with great outcry from the opposition and the NGO sector, the parliamentary majority adopted the new Law on the National Security Agency on March 6th.
The idea of allowing early retirement for ANB employees by decision of the Agency's director did not pass after consultations with the European Commission, so the possibility of voluntary retirement under preferential conditions was left for two months.
However, most employees who are eligible for retirement have not accepted such an option, especially since in mid-April the Government prepared a severance pay of only three net salaries for such an option.
The director has the power to judge.
The extensive personnel interventions planned at the Agency, according to the Rulebook, show that the management has a plan for the retirement of older, but also security-compromised employees.
The final decision on termination of employment is made by the director, who has the power to issue a dismissal decision after consulting the committee.
The procedure for leaving the service is initiated as soon as there is an "indication", and the initiative can be submitted by managers, the director, but also ANB employees.
The initiative must contain facts, documents, performance evaluation, reports, and data on years and seniority.
A five-member committee, appointed by the director, reviews the evidence, obtains additional information, hears the employee, and provides an opinion to the director.
The deadline for submitting an opinion is seven days from the receipt of the initiative.
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