Montenegrin Secret Service Chief Under Fire After Allegedly Disclosing NATO Ally's Data

PODGORICA – Prosecutors in Montenegro say they have opened a preliminary investigation into the alleged disclosure of classified information by the head of the National Security Agency (ANB), Dejan Vuksic.

"The case is in the preliminary phase," a spokeswoman for the Higher State Prosecutor's Office (VDT) in Podgorica, Lepa Medenica, told RFE/RL on March 23.

The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and member of the parliament's Security and Defense Committee, Rasko Konjevic, claimed on March 19 that Vuksic violated the law on data secrecy and compromised classified information of a NATO ally by sharing secret data with committee members earlier that day.

According to the deputy prime minister in charge of security matters, Dritan Abazovic, Vuksic "made a mistake" by revealing secret information.

But Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic defended the head of the secret service on March 21, saying that during the Security and Defense Committee meeting he disclosed data from an internal ANB document -- not from a NATO member state.

Some reports said that the classified information dealt with CIA operatives.

Montenegro joined the Western alliance in 2017.

Vuksic was appointed to the helm of the secret service in mid-December by Krivokapic’s government in a move strongly opposed by the opposition, which argued that ANB officials should not be members of a political party or carry out political activities.

Vuksic topped the candidate list of the coalition For the Future of Kotor in local elections in August 2020.

The coalition was part of a broader coalition led by the Democratic Front (DF) in the parliamentary vote that was held on the same day and brought Krivokapic to power.