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Government amends Intelligence Service law, focusing on economic security, cyber threats and critical infrastructure
Edi Rama's government is preparing a significant expansion of the powers of the State Intelligence Service, through a package of legal changes that strengthen the role of Albanian intelligence and expand the areas where it will collect information.
The draft law approved today by the government provides for changes to the law "On the National Intelligence Service", officially renaming the institution as the "State Intelligence Service" or SHISH.
But the change is not just in name. The new package significantly expands the spectrum of monitoring and information collection by Albanian intelligence, bringing into focus for the first time economic threats, cyberattacks, hybrid threats, and the protection of the country's critical infrastructure.
According to the draft, SHISH will collect information not only within the country, but also abroad, on issues related to national security, collective security and global challenges.
The draft law includes as monitoring objects:
-activities of foreign intelligence services;
-terrorism and extremism;
-crimes against the environment;
-production and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
-internal and regional stability;
-economic security;
cyber threats;
-hybrid threats;
- Albania's critical and strategic infrastructure.
For the first time, economic security and critical infrastructure are officially on the radar of Albanian intelligence, at a time when the government is increasingly linking national security with the economy, technology, and digital protection.
Another important change is the access that SHISH will have to state databases.
The draft law grants the intelligence service the right to access state databases, through inter-institutional agreements, significantly expanding the possibilities for collecting and analyzing information.
In parallel, the draft also provides for stronger protections for SHISH employees themselves. They will be exempt from the obligation to publicly declare their assets and income, while their control will be carried out only by an internal structure of the secret service.
The draft law also increases the financial treatment and status of SHISH directors, by defining separate supplementary payments and pensions for the Director and Deputy Director.
The changes come at a time when cyber threats, attacks on digital systems, and regional security issues have become priorities for the Albanian government and international partners.
However, the expansion of intelligence powers and access to state data is expected to open up a strong political and legal debate about the balance between national security and the protection of citizens' privacy. /Pamphlet
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