National Intelligence Service (Greece)
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Εθνική Υπηρεσία Πληροφοριών | |
Agency overview | |
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Formed | 9 May 1953 as the Central Intelligence Service |
Jurisdiction | Government of Greece |
Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
Motto | Λόγων ἀπορρήτων ἐκφορὰν μὴ ποιοῦ (Periander) Do not express confidential utterance |
Employees | c. 1300 Employees |
Minister responsible | |
Agency executive |
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Website | www.nis.gr |
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) (
As Greece's primary intelligence agency, EYP is responsible for a range of domestic and foreign matters, ranging from criminal activities and civil rights violations, to terrorism and espionage. Although its agents can be armed for their protection, the agency does not have prosecutorial and detention powers. During wartime, it can fulfill the role of military intelligence, alongside the separate Military Intelligence Directorate (ΔΔΣΠ).
Headquartered in Athens, EYP is an autonomous civilian agency that answers directly to the Prime Minister of Greece. The majority of its 1,800 personnel are civil servants, although the agency also employs scientific and technical contractors, officers of each branch of the Hellenic Armed Forces, and members of the Hellenic Police and Hellenic Fire Service.[2]
Mission
EYP's mission is to advance Greece's strategic interests by safeguarding political, financial, and military assets, preventing and countering criminal and military threats and collecting, processing and disseminating information to relevant authorities.[3] This broad mandate grants the organization many responsibilities, including advising policymakers, cooperating with the Military Intelligence Directorate (ΔΔΣΠ) and Hellenic Police's Directorate for Special Violent Crimes (Anti-Terrorist Service), the Directorate for Information Management and Analysis, and the Directorate of State Security (successor to the National Security Service), while coordinating with foreign partners.[4]
Personnel
The incumbent Director of the National Intelligence Service is Themistocles Demiris. The two Deputy Directors are amb. Ioannis Raptakis and LtGen (ret.) Georgios Kellis.[5]
The agency is directly responsible to the Prime Minister of Greece, who can appoint or dismiss the Director and his deputies.
EYP employs the following categories of personnel:
- Permanent civilian personnel.
- Scientific civilian personnel, serving on the basis of private contracts of employment.
- A number of officers on active service in the Armed Forces, the Coast Guard or the Hellenic Police. An unspecified number of national field agents are also employed.
The total number of people working for the agency is unknown and remains classified; the Greek media usually give figures of around 3,000.
From 1996 to 2019, responsibility for the service was delegated to Ministers of Public Order/Citizens Protection or the Interior.
History
The first modern Greek intelligence agency was created in February 1908, with the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs fulfilling the role. It was headed by Panagiotis Danglis, a military officer and member of the Hellenic Macedonian Committee one of the secret organizations taking part in the Macedonian Struggle. The Information Department's goal was the promotion of Greek propaganda as well as the collection of economic and military intelligence, through a network of Greek consulates in Ottoman-controlled Macedonia. The Department did not absorb or even collaborate with private Greek secret organizations that continued to act independently. Events such as the Goudi coup and the Young Turk Revolution, prompted a sharp reduction of Greek activity in Macedonia and the eventual dissolution of the agency in November 1909.[6] At the outbreak of World War I Greece remained neutral. The National Schism divided the country into Royalists and Venizelists. Individual members of the military and the diplomatic corps focused their attention on collecting information on their political enemies. In June 1917, King Constantine I of Greece was deposed and the country entered the war on the side of the Entente. Greek officers gained valuable experience on aerial reconnaissance and interrogation techniques from their French and British allies during their tenure on the Macedonian front. [7]
In 1923, Italy occupied the Greek island of Corfu after accusing the latter of assassinating the Italian general
In January 1936, the State Defense Service (Υπηρεσίας Αμύνης του Κράτους) was established under the Ministry for Military Affairs. Its responsibilities included "monitoring of foreign propaganda carried out against the State, the movement and dwelling of foreign nationals in the country, the collection of intelligence relating to the security of the State and the introduction of counter-measures." On 5 November of that year, the service was dissolved by the Metaxas Regime & was replaced by the Deputy Ministry for Public Security (Υφυπουργείο Δημόσιας Ασφάλειας).[8]
After World War 2
The agency, in its current form, was founded on 7 May 1953 (Law 2421/1953) under the name Central Intelligence Service (Κεντρικὴ Ὑπηρεσία Πληροφοριῶν, ΚΥΠ). On 27 August 1986, it was renamed and re-established as the National Intelligence Service (Εθνική Υπηρεσία Πληροφοριών, ΕΥΠ) by ministerial decree.
The agency was created by influential
. He headed the agency from its founding in May 1953 until December 1963.At the end of
Between 1952 and 1961 KYPE and its successor KYP conducted a campaign of cultural propaganda against the Greek communist party (KKE) and the
At the very beginning, the agency appointed an anticommunist role, as the country was under the consequences of the
Between the late 1970s and the 1990s, KYP and EYP monitored the activities of foreign terrorist organizations such as the German
After Andreas Papandreou came to power in 1981, he was determined to totally control the state apparatus, including the intelligence services, which historically had been staffed exclusively by people with right-wing political views. The external attention was focused on the relations towards Turkey. He appointed as head of KYP Lieutenant General Georgios Politis, a close friend of retired General, PASOK MP and minister Antonis Drosogiannis; Politis organized a massive purge of right-wing personnel.[14] KYP became a civilian agency, EYP, by Ministerial Decree 1645/86. In recent years, its directors have been diplomats, while traditionally they were military officers.
In late May 1985, KYP agents monitoring the activities of the Soviet embassy in Athens realized that its sports secretary Sergei Bokhan had vanished under mysterious circumstances. KYP suspected Bokhan to be either a KGB or a GRU operative, as was an approximate 40% of the embassy's staff. Valery Goncharouk another suspected GRU agent and embassy worker also unexpectedly returned to Moscow.[15] Unbeknownst to Greece Bokhan had been a MI6 double agent since 1974. On 17 May, Bokhan received an order to urgently return to the USSR in order to confirm a promotion. Fearing that his cover had been blown he escaped to USA with the help of CIA.[16] Bokhan's testimony was passed to KYP, revealing that he and Goncharouk had established a network of collaborators most of whom worked in the high tech sector. Amongst them were Greek navy officers specializing in computer engineering, a Greek contractor producing FIM-92 Stinger missiles and a contractor for the French defense manufacturer Thomson-CSF. The latter two were acquitted after the judge presiding over their case claimed that they had the right to engage in industrial espionage as the technology in question belonged to a foreign nation. The fact that the folders containing the documents were mailed through the regular post service and were not properly marked as classified also played a role in the court's decision. The court-martial also ended in the officer's favor, after Bokhan's testimony was judged to be inadequate for a conviction.[17]
In 1989,
1990s
On 5 March 1991, EYP conducted a series of arrests of Palestinian terrorists in Athens, seizing a number of explosive devices. On 19 April 1991,
Recent Years
During the recent years, EYP has also been active regarding cases of corruption in
In 2021, a former Greek intelligence officer, who was in charge of the Kyrenia branch of the Greek National Intelligence Service admitted that Greece and the Junta of Dimitrios Ioannidis knew about the invasion from at least April of 1974, saying that "if the Greek leadership wanted, the Turks would have suffered annihilation", this was said in an interview with the Cypriot state broadcaster, RIK.[22] The Officer also claims that all the evidence he had on this issue was also turned in to the Greek parliament during their investigation of the events of Cyprus (Later to be known as the Cyprus File), adding more details and claiming that although he was sending important intelligence signals to his superiors in Greece, he was getting no reply or instructions, including after informing them of the Turkish Military movements in the area saying " “It was as if they already knew everything and didn't need any additional information.” [23]
In 2022, it was revealed that the National Intelligence Service
In 2023 the Agency introduced a Cybersecurity Center. The new Security Operation Center (SOC) will operate in EYP’s Cyberspace Directorate and will be in charge of monitoring, detecting and responding to cyber threats and security breaches of the country’s governmental digital infrastructure. [25]
Other information
The agency's motto is the ancient Greek phrase "Λόγων ἀπορρήτων ἐκφορὰν μὴ ποιοῦ" (translated roughly as "Do not discuss confidential affairs"), a quote attributed to the Corinthian tyrant and philosopher Periander.
EYP is rumored to operate one of the largest criminal databases of any intelligence agency. In addition, it possesses a large volume of classified information about criminal hubs, activities and organizations operating throughout the European Union.[citation needed]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "Ε.Υ.Π." www.nis.gr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ Nomikos, Dr John M. (2008). "Greek Intelligence Service (NIS-EYP): Past, Present and Future" (PDF). National Security and the Future. 1–2 (9): 79–88. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "Competences and Responsibilities". Athens: National Intelligence Service. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
- ^ "Σκοπός". www.nis.gr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
- ^ Newsroom (31 January 2023). "ΕΥΠ: Ορίστηκαν οι δύο νέοι υποδιοικητές, Ιωάννης Ραπτάκης και Γεώργιος Κέλλης". Η ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ (in Greek). Retrieved 17 June 2023.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 30–33.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 40–49.
- ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ a b Linardatos, Apo ton Emfylio sti Hounda, 1979
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 122–129.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 146–152.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 244–253.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 296–297.
- ^ Economist Foreign report, vol 1805–1840, 1984
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 273–274.
- Smithsonian Mag. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 274–276.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 281–282.
- ^ Apostolidis 2014, pp. 283–284.
- ^ Πόρισμα εισαγγελέα Αριστείδη Κορρέα για την ύπαρξη εγκληματικής οργάνωσης στο ποδόσφαιρο (in Greek). Public Prosecutor's Office of District Court Judges. 3 December 2014. p. 12. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ Persons involved in referee attack
- ^ ""Η ΚΥΠ ήξερε τα πάντα για την τουρκική εισβολή στην Κύπρο το 1974"". 20 September 2021.
- ^ https://www.ekathimerini.com/in-depth/1189345/warnings-of-cyprus-invasion-went-unheeded/ [bare URL]
- ^ "Greek intelligence service boss quits amid wiretapping allegations". Reuters. 5 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
- ^ https://www.ekathimerini.com/news/1214923/national-intelligence-service-eyp-to-launch-new-cybersecurity-center/
References
- Apostolidis, Pavlos (2014). Μυστική Δράση: Υπηρεσίες Πληροφοριών στην Ελλάδα [Covert Operations: Intelligence Services in Greece] (in Greek) (I ed.). Athens: Ekdoseis Papazisi. ISBN 9789600230758.
External links
- Official Website of the National Intelligence Agency (in English) - (in Greek)