The Military Security and Intelligence Agency ( hr, Vojna sigurnosno-obavještajna agencija, VSOA) is the security and intelligence service of the

Croatian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) is the military service of Croatia. The President is the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, and exercises administrative powers in times of war by giv ...

. Established with the passing of the ''2006'' ''Act on the Security Intelligence System of the Republic of Croatia (OG 79/06 and OG 105/06),'' the Director of the VSOA is appointed or dismissed by a joint decision made by the

President of Croatia The president of Croatia, officially the President of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Predsjednik Republike Hrvatske), is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the military and chief representative of the Republic of Croatia both within t ...

and the

Prime Minister of Croatia , type = Head of Government , member_of = , reports_to = Croatian Parliament , appointer = Croatian Parliament , nominator = President of Croatia , termlength = At the pleasure of the parliamentary majority. Parliamentary elections must be h ...

Tasks

As an organizational unit within the Croatian Ministry of Defense, the VSOA is tasked with supporting the Ministry of Defense and the Croatian Armed Forces in defending the existence, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of Croatia. The VSOA collects, analyzes, processes and evaluates information on other nations' military and defense systems, external actions that may impact Croatia's defense and security, and activities abroad aimed at endangering the country's defense and security. Within the territorial borders of the Republic of Croatia, the VSOA provides intelligence pertaining to actions individuals, groups and organizations within the country may take in endangering the defence of the state. In addition to detecting and monitoring, the VSOA is tasked with undertaking activities to deter actions that may endanger the defence of the state. In accordance with Article 26 and 33 of the ''Act on the Security Intelligence System of the Republic of Croatia'', the VSOA is limited to gathering information, which may temporarily restrict certain constitutional human rights and basic freedoms, on employees or members of the Croatian Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces.

Operations

2013 Ukrainian MiG-21 Deal

In 2016, the VSOA, in collaboration with the

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...

, investigated a multi-million Euro contract for the repair of five used Mikoyan MiG-21bis-D fighters and UMD fighter jets delivered in 2015 Ukrainian state-owned arms company

Ukrspecexport Ukrspecexport ( uk, Укрспецекспорт, an abbreviation of "Ukrainian Special Export") is a Ukrainian state-owned arms trading company and part of the state conglomerate Ukrainian Defense Industry. Ukrspecexport was formed in Novembe ...

. Later grounded due to safety reasons, in 2016 the Croatian Office for the Suppression of Organized Crime (USKOK) filed an indictment against two Croatian citizens, one a defence ministry employee and another employee of the company involved in the deal, citing “serious indications of troubling actions that may affect the defensive capability” of Croatia. As of February 2018, the case was with the District Court of Zagreb, which was considering a case of corruption in the repair of the aircraft in Ukraine.

Directors

* Brigadier General

Ivica Kinder Ivica is a Slavic masculine given name, a diminutive form of Ivan. The direct English equivalent of the name is Johnny, while the equivalent of its augmentative Ivan is John. It is one of the frequent male given names in Croatia, and is also pres ...

(2015–present) * Lieutenant General

Darko Grdić Darko is a common Slavic given name, and an Akan family name. People: * Darko (given name) * Darko (surname) Places: * Velké Dářko, a pond in the Czech Republic Movies: * ''Donnie Darko'', a 2001 film by Richard Kelly starring Jake Gyllenha ...

(2008–2015) * Major General

Gordan Čačić Gordan () is a Slavic name derived Proto-Slavic ''*gъrdъ'' (gȏrd) meaning proud: Given name * Gordan Golik, Croatian football midfielder * Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player * Gordan Jandroković, Croatian diplomat and politician * ...

(2006–2008)

References

Sources