Patriotism is above all
September 8, 2010 // Narodna Armiya
By the day of Military Intelligence of Ukraine
Ukrainian defence intelligence celebrates its symbolic legal age. For a person, it is just the beginning of adulthood, but for the intelligence agency of a state it is the possibility to realize that in spite of the young age the agency is now fully developed highly professional, respected, and efficient.
Intelligence agencies, and their officers can be very different. But they must be first-class professionals, first of all. What’s the other thing that distinguishes an intelligence man from others? In the DIU, the answer is flat: an intelligence officer must be a patriot, first of all.
The Ukrainian defence intelligence was born on September 7, 1992. It was the day, one year after the independence of our state was proclaimed, when the President of Ukraine issued a decree establishing the Military strategic intelligence directorate within the structure of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. On September 12, 1992, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine signed a directive on establishment of the Ukrainian Defence intelligence directorate, and then, in a month, on October 16 appeared another directive on establishment of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Military strategic intelligence directorate.
Hard work had been done before these documents saw light. One should keep in mind that military intelligence in our state was created on the basis of units previously organic to the former Soviet Union. It refers to the military intelligence units of Kyiv, Odessa and Carpathian military districts, 8 Air Defence Army, 17 Air Army and the Black Sea Fleet.
Another distinguishing feature of the military intelligence agency created in 1992 was patriotism and initiative of the officers who took part in the establishment of the new service, and who already had some experience in the intelligence field. Two task forces cooperated with Verkhovna Rada and the President of Ukraine, as well as with the General Staff of the Armed Services of Ukraine. And the Presidential Decree dated September 7, 1992, is mostly their achievement.
The Defence Ministry Military strategic intelligence directorate and Armed Forces intelligence directorate were responsible for intelligence planning and arrangement, data analysis and processing, current, immediate and urgent report generation. Depending on the newly gained experience, further improvement of the intelligence system has led to the merging of both services into one. This increased the efficiency of the intelligence activity. And in 1993 the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine appeared, the official name of which was fixed in the Presidential Decree of April 14, 1994.
The DIU command consider that, at the present time, the complicated tasks of ensuring the national security and defence capacity demand further active search and implementation of the most efficient forms and methods of intelligence activity management. Only modern information technologies and highly professional specialists can help to achieve this.
Birthday is an occasion to asses and summarize the outlived period. During gala events in the Central Officer Hall on the occasion of the Defence Intelligence Day representatives of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, General Staff and National Security and Defence Council command greeted the defence intelligence personnel on the occasion of their professional holiday and stressed that through the diversity of its functions, methods, and techniques, the current Defence Intelligence sees serving the Ukrainian nation and state as its main purpose.
Chief of the General Staff, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine particularly said: “I appreciate your professionalism and devotion, your significant contribution to the protection of the national interests. Intelligence service is respected, highbrow, and vital to the Ukrainian society”.
The formal ceremony was followed by a gala concert. Guests had a chance to enjoy the performance of the Song and Dance ensemble of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine together with members of the DIU’s Oberih singing ensemble.
Olesya Bolinska
