Ministry of Defence (Bulgaria)

The Ministry of Defence (, Ministerstvo na otbranata) of Bulgaria is the ministry charged with regulating the Bulgarian Armed Forces. The current Minister of Defence is Atanas Zapryanov.

The present building of the ministry is among the finest examples of the Bulgarian modern architecture from the middle of 20th century. It was designed by the famous Bulgarian architectural team Vasilyov-Tsolov and completed in the period 1939Ã¢ÂÂ45.

History

The Ministry was created in 1879. Between 1911 and 1947 it was called Ministry of War (ÃÂÃÂ¸ÃÂ½ÃÂ¸ÃÂÃÂÃÂµÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ²ÃÂ¾ ÃÂ½ÃÂ° ÃÂ²ÃÂ¾ÃÂ¹ÃÂ½ÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂ°, Ministerstvo na voynata) and from 1947 to 1990 it bore the name Ministry of People's Defence (ÃÂÃÂ¸ÃÂ½ÃÂ¸ÃÂÃÂÃÂµÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ²ÃÂ¾ ÃÂ½ÃÂ° ÃÂ½ÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂ¾ÃÂ´ÃÂ½ÃÂ°ÃÂÃÂ° ÃÂ¾ÃÂÃÂ±ÃÂÃÂ°ÃÂ½ÃÂ°, Ministerstvo na narodnata otbrana).

Structure

Political Cabinet

The political cabinet assists the Minister of Defence in formulating and developing particular decisions for carrying out governmental policy, and in representing that policy to society. It consists of the deputy ministers, the head of the Minister's office, the parliamentary secretary and the Chief of the Public Relations unit. The work of the cabinet is assisted by experts. There are currently two Deputy Ministers serving office: Ivan Ivanov and Spas Panchev.

Secretary General

The Secretary General carries out the administrative leadership of the Ministry of Defence by implementing the legal orders issued by the Minister of Defence; it also leads, coordinates, and controls the functioning of the Ministry of Defence with respect to the strict observation of the laws and the sub-law acts, and reports to the Minister of Defence on the activities of the Ministry of Defence; The Secretary General:

leads, coordinates and controls the circulation of documentation;
manages the accountability and the control over the preparation of orders and guidance of the Minister of Defence;
guides the process on the automation of the management of the Ministry of Defence;
organizes and is responsible for the keeping and managing of the real estate and portable items provided to and used by the Ministry of Defence.
approves the expenditures necessary for managing the Ministry of Defence;
develops the draft of the budget of the Ministry of Defence in its part related to the means necessary for the administrative support of the activities of the Ministry of Defence;
keeps track of legal and appropriate spending of the financial means and materiel provided for the Ministry of Defence;
prepares an annual report on the status of the administrative activities in the Ministry of Defence, which he presents to the Minister of the State's Administration after the report is approved by the Minister of Defence.

The Minister of Defence's job within the Secretary General is that:

he is responsible for the checking regime and security in the building of the Ministry of Defence;
he fulfils other tasks as well which are assigned to him by the Minister of Defence

Inspectorate

The Inspectorate to the Ministry of Defence provides the act of fulfilling the control functions on the part of the Minister of Defence in carrying out the state policy in the sphere of defence. The Inspectorate examines and investigates with respect to:

observation of the laws and of the orders issued by the Minister of Defence;
observation of the order and discipline in the troops;
management and assigning of financial means and materiel;
personnel management;
preservation of the natural environment;
other checks assigned to the inspectorate by the Minister of Defence.

The Inspectorate is directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence and is headed by the Chief Inspector. Additionally, it studies the suggestions, signals, litigations and requests filed by physical persons or legal entities to the Minister of Defence and prepares answers to the above-mentioned. The organization of the activities of the inspectorate, the types of the checks as well as the conditions and the order of how to conduct them, are determined by the Minister of Defence.

General Administration

The general Administration of the Ministry of Defence is organized into directorates "Administrative and Financial Service" and "Financial-Economic Activities".

Specialized Administration

The specialized administration of the Ministry of Defence is organized into eleven directorates. The specialized administration assists and provides for the realization of the rights of the Minister of Defence and of the deputy ministers of defence within the framework of the rights delegated to them and the functions they are assigned.

Directorates:

Defence policy directorate
Defence planning and programming directorate
International cooperation directorate
Budget planning and management directorate
Personnel policy directorate
Financial control activities directorate
Procurement management directorate
Military infrastructure directorate
Armaments and equipment policy directorate
Legal and regulatory affairs (LRA) directorate
Military Standardization, Quality and Codification Directorate

Officer on Security of Information

The officer on the security of information is directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence and fulfils tasks which are assigned to him by virtue of the Law on the protection of classified information and by the sub-law acts on the enforcement of the above-mentioned law. In carrying out his functions, the officer on the security of information is assisted by a unit working on the security of the information.

Administrative Structures subordinated to the Ministry of Defence

Military information service

This functions as a service which:

is a legal entity supported by the budget - it is a secondary budget credit holder to the Minister of Defence; and
acquires, processes, analyzes, keeps and provides information in the interest of defence and the national security of the Republic of Bulgaria.

This organizational structure of the service is approved by the Minister of Defence and its activities are defined by Regulations approved by the council of ministers.

Security - military police and military counterintelligence service

Its functions are as follows The basic tasks of "Security - military police and military counterintelligence" service is to maintain the order and security in the Ministry of Defence and in the Bulgarian army. Parallel to that it fulfils the following functions:

it provides for the protection of the Ministry of Defence and the Bulgarian army from activities of foreign special services, organizations and persons directed against the security of the Ministry of Defence and the Bulgarian army;
carries out activities aimed at maintaining order in the Ministry of Defence and in the Bulgarian army for the prevention, revealing and investigation of crimes committed in the Ministry of Defence and in the Bulgarian army with a view to finding out the perpetrators;
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provides for the controforover the observation of the rules for movement on the rceds by the drivers of transport vehicles and organized groups of servicemen;
conducts activities pertaining to collecting, processing, storage, analyzing, using and providing information related to the maintenance of order and security in the Ministry of Defence and in the Bulgarian army.

The structure of the "Security - military police and military counterintelligence" service is built on a territorial principle in accordance with the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Bulgaria and with the existing organizational and positional structure of the Bulgarian army.