The Chairperson of SCIS Mr. Boris Dimitrov participates in the activity of the Industrial forum under the auspices of the President Mr. Rosen Plevneliev

By an invitation of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Economy and Energy on 9th and 10th October, the Chairperson of the State Commission on Information Security (SCIS) Mr. Boris Dimitrov participated in a session of Bulgarian Industrial forum and in the activities of the Industrial day, supporting the forum. The session of the Industrial forum is under the auspices of the President Mr. Rosen Plevneliev and with the participation of representatives of NATO partner agencies. The purpose of both events is encouraging the development of Bulgarian defence industry.

Mr. Dimitrov made a presentation in the field of industrial security in which he emphasized that the protection of NATO and EU classified information is one of the priorities in the activities of SCIS. The need for balance between the interests in the field of security and the interests in the field of industry was outlined, where the security requirements cannot be turned into obstacles for the development of industry.

The Chairperson of SCIS clarified to Bulgarian companies and NATO representatives the measures and procedures for protection of classified information when applying for and executing contracts involving access to classified information. He clearly defined the responsibilities of the State Commission on Information Security, the National Intelligence Service, the Defence Information Service under the Ministry of Defence, the State Agency Technical Operations and the State Agency for National Security. Mr. Dimitrov pointed out that the vetting authorities are obliged to provide full cooperation to the contracting authorities, the candidates and the contractors of public procurements involving access to classified information. For the purposes of the industrial security vetting, the vetting authorities have to implement one of the two clearly defined procedures – procedure through the contracting authority and procedure for issuing solely NATO security clearance certificate. 

Due to the complexity of the procedures and the significant volume of information necessary for the purposes of industrial security vetting, the Chairperson of SCIS recommended that the Bulgarian participants addressed to the experts of the Commission and of other competent authorities with regard to all issues of interest.