Foreign Intelligence Service (Armenia)

The Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS) is the national civilian foreign intelligence agency of Republic of Armenia tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting civilian foreign intelligence cybersecurity, clandestine and covert operations, countering hybrid threats, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, creation a civilian foreign security network intelligence, cyberwarfare, external security, foreign threat assessment to national security, intelligence gathering and assessment, and support hybrid warfare operations.

The agency is responsibles for analysis and development intelligence gathering and counterintelligence systems to create national security, civilian foreign intelligence cybersecurity, clandestine and covert operations, counter-revolutionary, countering hybrid threats, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, creation a civilian foreign security network intelligence, cyberwarfare, executive protection (especially the President of the Republic of Armenia, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and visiting foreign leaders), external security, foreign threat assessment to national security, information warfare, intelligence gathering and assessment, political warfare against target countries, protects classified foreign intelligence information, secure foreign intelligence information and documents, and support hybrid warfare operations.

A mostly civilian agency, the FIS falls under the direct supervision of the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia. It is headquartered in Yerevan.

Established in October 2023, the FIS was created to replace the incumbent National Security Service (NSS), a mostly uniformed military intelligence organization which lost the trust of the country's leadership after the agency's loyalty came into question amidst frayed relations between Armenia and Russia. While the NSS is a direct successor to the Committee for State Security of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (KGB of ArSSR), the FIS is intended to break with past institutional influences and has been established with input and assistance from western intelligence agency, including the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and United State Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

History

In late 2022, the National Assembly of Armenia announced the intent to create a civilian foreign intelligence service to replace the National Security Service and intelligence components within the Armed Forces of Armenia.

Armen Grigorian, the secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, announced it will be tasked with "collecting information about the security situation around Armenia." Opposition lawmakers criticized the government, with Gegham Manukian of the opposition Armenia Alliance saying that it will "only weaken the existing structures within the NSS and the Defense Ministry." In October 2023, Kristinne Grigoryan, a human rights lawyer, was appointed as the FIS's first director.

Publications

In January 2025, the FIS published its first public assessment, the ''Annual Report on External Security'' ''Risks of the Republic of Armenia for 2025'', which highlighted a need to prioritize "Armenia's resilience in combating hybrid warfare." While the report did not directly indict Russian activities, it sharply criticized the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which Armenia froze its membership in 2024. The report concluded that the organization's "incapacity (non-viability) to respond to the issues in the South Caucasus that are within CSTO statutory objectives, highly likely will not change."

See also

*National Security Service (Armenia)
* Committee for State Security of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic

References

Notes

External links

Foreign Intelligence Service
on government of Armenia

{{Yerevan landmarks

2020s establishments in Armenia
Government agencies of Armenia
Government agencies established in 2023
Armenian intelligence agencies