Slovakia and Poland to set up NATO centre for counterintelligence

Slovakia and Poland are planning to build a centre for the counterintelligence capabilities of NATO countries, according to Defence Ministry spokesperson Martina Balleková. The main role of the so-called Centre of Excellence for Counterintelligence will be education and training in the field of counterintelligence. The countries that have expressed interest alongside Slovakia and Poland are Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia and Slovenia. The United Kingdom, the United States, France and other NATO countries are due to sign up in 2016. The centre should help NATO to deal with hybrid armed threats. Its establishment fits in with NATO's objective of improving intelligence services, which is a prerequisite for making rapid and appropriate decisions.