“After the presentation of the first controller, it became clear in his discussion groups that there is a great expectation of the members of the Seimas that the second controller should be more from the field of human rights, I am currently looking for the most rational solution,” the Speaker of the Seimas told reporters in the Seimas on Tuesday.
According to her, one possible option is to adjust the statutory requirement for the intelligence controller to have at least 10 years of experience in activities related to national security and defense.
“There is one option, to adjust the requirements of the law, because they are sufficiently restrictive and require ten years of experience in work security structures, very specific experience, and the human rights aspect is not sufficiently reflected in the requirements of the law,” said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
Another option, according to the leader of the parliament, would be “to look for people who seem acceptable to the factions of the Seimas”.
The news portal “Lrytas” has previously announced that V.Čmilytė-Nielsen planned to nominate the former longtime deputy director of the State Security Department (VSD) Andrias Tekorius as the second intelligence controller, but there was dissatisfaction in the Seimas that both controllers are related to security and are too small knowledgeable in the field of human rights.
The speaker of the Seimas also noted that Nortautas Statkus, the first intelligence controller in the country’s history, was sworn in only on Tuesday, his candidacy was submitted to lead the Intelligence Controllers Office, and it will still take time for the office to start functioning.
“The new controller was sworn in at the Seimas, I have just submitted his candidacy for the head of the institution, which means that if the Seimas approves, the work on the establishment of the institution will be able to proceed, which is a long enough process that will take time until the institution is fully functional and able to deal with people’s complaints and various situations”, said V. Čmilytė-Nielsen.
During his presentation in the Seimas, N. Statkus said that the activities of intelligence institutions cannot be fully known to the public, therefore a different supervision mechanism than public responsibility is needed.
According to him, the intelligence ombudsman institution, which has this function, will be able to act only if it has the trust of the public, politicians and intelligence institutions.
Until now, N.Statkus worked as the chief advisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He is also a former advisor to the office of the Seimas National Security and Defense Committee, worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Security Department, and headed the Science Center of the Lithuanian Military Academy of General Jonas Žemaitis for several years.
By education, the intelligence controller is a historian, graduated from Vilnius University and Central European University in Budapest. He obtained a master’s degree in Slavic studies and East European studies at the University of London, a doctoral degree in the field of social sciences, political science at Vilnius University, and taught at the Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences of Vilnius University.
In 2021, the Seimas adopted a law on the establishment of the Intelligence Controller Institute. According to the law, two intelligence inspectors should have started working from July 2022, but for various reasons, their candidacies were not submitted to the Seimas.
The Seimas appoints two intelligence inspectors for a five-year term at the recommendation of the Speaker of the Seimas, after consideration of the nominations by the Seimas Committee performing parliamentary control of intelligence institutions and the Seimas Committee responsible for ensuring human rights and freedoms.
The Office of Intelligence Controllers will carry out continuous supervision of the legality of the activities of intelligence institutions – the Department of State Security and the Second Department of Operational Services.