Fifteen years ago, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) became independent of the KGB and embarked on its way to genuine independence and democracy together with the newly independent state. On March 25 we are going to celebrate this “crystal” jubilee, although without a full-fledged chief (only acting chief) or completed reform (which was launched more than a year ago), and at a time of continuing friction between government departments which, unfortunately, sometimes affects the activities of Ukrainian special services among others. This is an unavoidable “pediatric disease” of any young democracy, where roles assigned to security services are not infrequently employed by some politicians not as a powerful instrument of government for securing the interests of their own country, but rather as a kind of antidemocratic institution. We are living in a world where international competition is tough, and there are special services, terrorist organizations and global criminal networks – all equipped with the most advanced technologies. Furthermore, as with any newly independent state, we have to deal with well-organized countering action by our neighbors – both far and near. To those countries their special services are key players (and indeed, their closest allies) in interstate relations. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to compete with those special services whose budgets exceed the national budget of Ukraine. It is high time for Ukraine to set up a compact, well-equipped special service with a powerful intellectual potential, which would be capable of effectively countering infringements of any kind upon its sovereignty, contributing as much as possible to the development of the State, and preventing activities on Ukraine’s soil by organizations with anti-Ukrainian agendas, as well as countering criminal or terrorist challenges.

Looking back to our past, we pay tribute to the people who have shaped a strategy for the Service, identified its prospects and developed its path for the years to come. Everyone who has headed the SBU has had a unique impact on the Service’s internal structure and processes, and also on the shaping of its public image, beginning with Yevhen Marchuk, who is regarded as the founding father of the Ukrainian special services and who laid down the foundation for their work in Ukraine as an independent state. Marchuk was succeeded by V.Malikov – an intelligent and well-informed man, whose exemplary work impacted directly on the SBU’s work style and methods. Under V.Radchenko the SBU managed to rein in organized crime, and performance by field services was elevated to a qualitatively new level. His successor L.Derkach devoted a lot energy to reinforcing the economic vector of the SBU’s activities, expanding and improving its material base and enhancing its personnel’s training levels.

A significant milestone in SBU’s history, in my opinion, was the beginning of 2005, when its personnel, inspired by a wave of nation-wide enthusiasm, really opened up in the hope that democratic reforms would help them put an end to organized crime and corruption, notably within the upper reaches of the political and economic establishment, and to neutralize organizations with anti-Ukrainian agendas. The then SBU head Oleksandr Turchynov said: “Special service makes the image of the country, and by the special service’s performance one can judge how democratic or undemocratic the State is and whether the law is the highest criterion in that state”. We have all worked to make this principle a reality. Over a short period of time, related SBU units mobilized their efforts for the fight with corruption and other manifestations of organized crime, and operation “Contraband – Stop!” was jump-started. The results of this job contributed, in particular, to an influx of money in the national budget. We were seeking to optimize the Special Service’s work, retaining what we believed most effective and forward-looking and giving up what made our work less effective, in particular officialism. In our work we were guided by the perception that the Ukrainian Special Service must fend off whatever challenges might threaten Ukraine, identify potential threats as soon as possible and in any location, and take adequate preventive measures.

Today the SBU is facing no less important missions, in the first place facilitating the country’s economic growth and promoting Ukrainian products in export markets, because not a single commercial entity that respects itself will sign any significant contract before its own special service has scrutinized its potential partners and their true intentions. We are little by little entering the global community -- with its innate competition, behind which is often industrial or scientific espionage. Ignoring this fact may cause significant losses in the Ukrainian economy, ousting some of its sectors to the periphery of the powerful economic community.

It should also be said that until we overcome corruption among high-ranked office-holders, government attorneys and judges, and put an end to large-scale contraband which constitutes a serious threat to the national economy, there can be no talk of a better international image for Ukraine. This is also true for the fight with the international drug industry and more manifestations of international crime – where I think we have achieved something.

The SBU can only work effectively enough if its personnel are given concrete objectives and can see the results of their difficult work.

The well-known phrase [by Josef Stalin] “Personnel talks” (an allusion to the saying “money talks”, e.g. with appropriately selected personnel you can achieve everything) is particularly relevant when it comes to special services. I will not reveal a secret by saying that it is the SBU’s tradition to select personnel for itself very selectively by scrutinizing the candidates’ business, intellectual and moral qualities. And such an approach is understandable enough, as not every man can be entrusted with access to State secrets or sensitive information of other kinds. Any special service is only effective if it works in “lead-in mode”, e.g. objectively assesses some processes that can potentially affect State interests -- when those processes are only incipient. This can only be done by high-level intellectuals who are capable of apprehending all the difficulties of life and discriminating State interests from the political ambitions of individual influential clans in Ukrainian society. This was particularly evident at the beginning of the 1990s, when the vast majority of the SBU personnel preferred the difficult job of serving independent Ukraine – not because they were concerned about themselves but because they were concerned about Ukraine, given the situation this country found itself in at the time. They realized better than anyone else that Ukraine will only make itself an independent state if its interests in such a specific area are secured by officers with appropriate professional training and background. This applies in the first place to SBU’s top-level officers whose sizeable contribution to the Ukrainian special services’ development should be distinguished here. Among them are highly-respected specialists such as O. Skibinecky, O. Khomych, P. Shatkovsky, O. Sharkov, Yu. Zemliansky, V. Krutov, V. Tymoshenko, L. Lychkatyy, V. Sheremeta, O. Beliaev, V. Rybalko, Yu. Sukhovatyy, Yu. Vandin, E.Serhienko and others. I am proud to say that my father – Lieutenant-General Anatoliy Leonidovych Kozhemiakin – was among those who were building up an SBU department for corruption and organized crime.

Each of the above-mentioned officers introduced a work style of their own to the SBU, and they all worked to develop a new vision of the SBU’s responsibilities and to identify the spectrum of national security issues that would be addressed by the special service.

It was the SBU’s top-level officers’ position that prevented the special service from getting involved in political strife and helped it remain equidistant from the existing nuclei of political influence. We have managed to make the SBU a key institution rather than a kind of a Latin-American-type political gendarmerie. But this is not to say that the SBU’s personnel have escaped the influence of all the adverse public processes. Unfortunately, some of the most experienced officers have had to retire from work, having failed to find themselves in the new environment. Isolated facts are there of officers neglecting their official duties – since any special service only mirrors social factors, either positive or negative. I would add to this that the SBU’s personnel have to work in extremely difficult conditions. Ill-considered personnel changes, attempts being made to get the SBU involved in political games and make its officers perform the functions which they are not supposed to perform, inadequate funding and lack of technical resources, as well as social insecurity and lack of apartments – the list of problems facing the SBU cold be continued.

One more destabilizing factor hanging like Damocles’ sword over the Ukrainian special service has been their unsystematic attempts to reform the SBU. The reform is needed, indeed, and this could help us get its operation optimized and adjusted to the new historic environment. But what is going on today is reform in name alone.

First, the SBU reform should be carried out based on Ukraine’s National Security Concept using package approaches to reforming the SBU, Prosecutor General’s Office, Ministry of the Interior, Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Agency, Foreign Intelligence Service, Border Service and other agencies with specific responsibilities. International experience suggests that it was precisely that kind of approach that helped post-communist countries to achieve their goals, as a clear-cut distribution of powers between each of the security agencies facilitates effective coordination between them and makes their work more effective. In such a case it is necessary to define in clear terms the functions to be assigned to the reform coordinator, who is to be responsible for introducing these into SBU’s operations. I think that such functions should be entrusted with the National Security and Defense Council and related parliamentary committees.

Second, international experience suggests that reform of any kind must be supported with adequate material resources that exceed 2-2.5 times the amount of funds needed to maintain a system under reform in its previous condition. I well realize that such sums of money are hard to find in the present-day Ukrainian reality. But embarking on a reform without providing it with adequate material support means dooming the reform to failure and discrediting the idea of reform as such.

Third, any system-like reform is impracticable to implement if the country’s leaders are constrained politically and those executing the reform (heads of agencies to be reformed) are lacking moral authority. That reforms are long overdue is confirmed by numerous public opinion polls, which suggest that – as general trust in the Institution and individual security agencies is declining with every passing day – the confidence level in the Security Service remains relatively high yet still insufficient for a society declaring loyalty to democratic principles to be one of its key priorities. Can there be any talk of a system-like reform if they have not even been able to choose a chief for the special service for several months now?

Celebrating the SBU’s 15^th birthday, we cannot but pay tribute to our veterans. It is these people to whom we owe every previous accomplishment by the Ukrainian special service and also the priceless professional experience and the fundamentals of corporate ethics they passed on to the new generation of security officers. We well understand that insufficient attention being devoted to SBU veterans may undermine confidence in the future of our employees and undermine the corporate spirit which must continue to be their inherent characteristic feature. It is high time to set up a single veterans’ organization for all of Ukraine’s special services, to start drawing them into some promising projects concerning national and patriotic education, and raise public confidence in the SBU. We are grateful to our friends and sponsors who, being genuine patriots, are helping us perform our difficult mission of strengthening Ukraine’s sovereignty and countering infringements by our foes.

I would like once again to congratulate all Ukrainians on this professional holiday of the Security Service of Ukraine and to wish the SBU personnel to highly respect their status as Ukrainian special service officers who guard the interests of our fatherland. I am confident that we will overcome all the troubles and problems facing us as we help Ukraine develop into a strong democratic state where each of its citizens will live a decent life and be confident in the future.