(RE)ORGANIZATION OF THE MILITARY SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE SECTOR OF WESTERN BALKAN STATES IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN AND EURO-ATLANTIC INTEGRATION

KOSTIĆ Marina (Faculty of Business Studies and Law, Belgrade), marina.kostic@fpsp.edu.rs
PETKANIĆ M.A. Srđan (European Studies, Belgrade), psergio1@yahoo.com

The security and intelligence sector reform is part of the overall endeavours of the state to adapt itself to the new global security challenges, regional environment and needs of national security and economic strength of each country. In balancing between these three levels of determinants, the state adopts strategic, normative and organizational arrangements of the security and intelligence sector. In the Western Balkan region, this question is even more sensitive and important since the cooperation in the field of security and intelligence is the last indicator of the adaptation and stabilization of this region to the requirements of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration. The basis for cooperation is found primarily in global security threats such as terrorism, organized crime, failed states and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To better suit this purpose, the defence sector reform in the Western Balkans has taken place under the auspices of the NATO-sponsored defence reform groups and similar bodies. This is why the same organizational patterns of the military and intelligence sector in the region occurred. They will be presented in the form of an overview of the security and intelligence sector of the Western Balkan states. The pattern has the form of establishing a single civilian, i.e. security and intelligence agency as an independent governmental body and a single military agency/service as an organizational part of the Ministry of Defence. The main issues to be examined in this paper deal with the question how these contemporary trends influence the military security and intelligence sector in Serbia and what might be the alternatives.

Keywords: European and Euro-Atlantic integration, security sector reform, military intelligence and security services, Serbia, Western Balkan region