Sofia, 17 October 2024

The Fourteenth Meeting of the Heads of the South East European National Security Authorities (SEENSA) was held on 17 October 2024 in Sofia. It was organized by the State Commission on Information Security (the National Security Authority) of the Republic of Bulgaria, with the support of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). The meeting was attended by delegations of Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia, as well as by a representative of the RCC.

The focus of the meeting was put on the current activities of the participating National Security Authorities, as well as on their plans for further successful handling of the existing challenges in their everyday work. Subject of discussion also were the forms of further cooperation among the National Security Authorities and the future of the SEENSA initiative aimed at enhanced regional cooperation in the field of the protection of classified information.

Skopje, March 5, 2024

On 05.03.2024, at a celebratory event, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information was marked. On the occasion of this important jubilee, external collaborators and employed administrative employees in the Directorate were awarded certificates of appreciation and suitable plaques, in recognition of their cooperation and contribution to capacity building and the realization of the objectives and tasks of the Directorate.

Skopje, 26-28 February 2024

Within the initiative for Bilateral Technical Assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia for the implementation of a project on the topic "Strengthening the resilience of the system for the protection of classified information with an emphasis on mitigating risks in judicial authorities", in the period from 26 to 28 February 2024, a delegation of the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information of the Republic of Slovenia visited Skopje. Thus the first phase of the project was realized, during which a number of issues related to the protection of classified information were discussed.

Skopje, March 6, 2023

The 19th anniversary of the establishment of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information was marked on the 6th of March 2023 with a special ceremony and a solemn speech by the Director of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information. On marking this important event, a suitable plaquette was awarded to an administrative employee of the Directorate as a recognition of his contribution to building capacity and achieving results in the work of the Directorate.

Report on the level of transparency by APRFAPI from 2022

According to the 2022 report on the transparency levels of the state institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia prepared by the Agency for the Protection of the Right for Free Access to Public Information, the Directorate for Security of Classified Information was ranked as an institution with a high level of transparency. With a high score of 43 points (6 more points compared to 2021) on the transparency scale, the Directorate has demonstrated a clear dedication to ensuring a free access to the public information which it had generated and/or disposed. Such high result is an additional incentive for the Directorate to continue increasing its transparency and openness to the public.

Skopje, 27 September 2022

The Twelfth Conference of the South East European National Security Authorities (SEENSA) was held on 27 September in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. The conference was organized under the Chairmanship of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information (National Security Authority) of the Republic of North Macedonia and with the support of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). Aside from the representatives of the Directorate and the RCC, the conference was attended by delegations of Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia as well as by a representative of the EU Delegation to Skopje.

The focus of the conference was put on the current activities, challenges and future plans for strengthening the protection of classified information on national and regional level. The additional presentations on cyber security and EU integrations delivered by renowned experts in the abovementioned fields put an additional quality to the conference’ s overall program. Future of the SEENSA Initiative and forms of further cooperation were also subject of discussion among the participants. In that regard, it was unanimously agreed that SEENSA should be further developed as an inclusive and practical tool for cooperation.

Copenhagen, 13-15 September 2022

From September 13 to 15, 2022, representatives from the Directorate of Classified Information Security participated in the 36th Annual Conference of the Multinational Industrial Security Working Group (MISWG) held in Copenhagen, Kingdom of Denmark. At the conference plenary, the progress made in the work was ascertained and important decisions were made for the further functioning of the forum. The plenary adopted a new set of rules and procedures, reached an agreement on the host countries for the next few years and on the members of the Executive Committee, provided guidance and support to all established MISWG ad hoc working groups and agreed steps on the status of candidate countries sponsored for participation in the MISWG before holding the plenary.

On the sidelines of the conference, meetings of the MISWG ad hoc working groups were held, including Ad hoc Working Group 9 – Arrangements for International Manual Transfer of Classified Documents, Equipment and Components and Ad hoc Working Group 10 – Control and Influence of Foreign ownership (FOCI) in whose work the representatives of the Directorate participated.

Skopje, 31 August 2022

Upon invitation of Director Stojan Slaveski, the Director of the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies, retired Maj. Gen. Barre Seguin paid a working visit to the Directorate for Security of Classified Information on 31 August, 2022.

During the visit, the two interlocutors discussed the current and future cooperation between the Marshall Center and the Directorate, and exchanged opinions on the follow-up training process of Directorate’s alumni and how to further invest their knowledge within institutional and national frameworks.

Ohrid, 26-29 August, 2022

Representatives of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information took part in the 10th jubilee Ohrid Security Forum which was held in the period between 26 and 29 August 2022. The Forum was organized by the George Marshall Center Alumni Association of the Republic of North Macedonia with the support of the George Marshall European Center for Security Studies and NATO Public Diplomacy Division.

The Forum’s primary aim was to exchange experiences, good practices and points of view among the alumni on the global and regional security challenges, as well as to locate forms of cooperation which will help to tackle the transnational, terrorist, asymmetric, state-sponsored and threats coming from the information realm.

In the context of the information related threats, a special panel session was dedicated to the role of the national security authorities in protecting the sensitive information and maintaining a resilient and information-integrated security system. The Director of the Directorate Stojan Slaveski and the Directors of the National Security Authorities of Albania and Montenegro delivered appropriate case-studies on this topic.

Skopje, 28 April 2022

The Directorate for Security of Classified Information, in cooperation and with the support of the Regional Cooperation Council, organized on 28 April 2022 the “Reflective Workshop on the Intersections between the Security Awareness and the Security Aspects of Classified Information”. Renowned experts and practitioners from the EU Commission and the European External Action Service as well as from NATO Office of Security elaborated on the concept of security awareness in the context of protecting classified information and presented on concrete mechanisms for raising security awareness. The national and regional perspective on this particularly important segment of security of classified information were also provided by representatives from the Directorate itself as well as by representatives of the national security authorities of the SEE region. Practical experiences were also exchanged among the workshop’s participants.

The online reflective workshop was held within this year's Chairmanship of the National Security Authority of the Republic of North Macedonia with the SEENSA Initiative.