TheNational Security Service (NSS) (Armenian:Հայաստանի Ազգային Անվտանգության Ծառայություն,romanized: Hayastani Azgayin Anvtangut’yan Tsarrayut’yun) is the outgoingsecurity service ofArmenia, responsible fornational security and intelligence matters. The service is also responsible for theArmenian Border Guard.[1][2] The NSS is being replaced by the civilian-runForeign Intelligence Service, established in 2023. The NSS, the direct successor of the SovietKGB of the Armenian SSR, was once responsible for all domestic and foreign intelligence and counterintelligence affairs, as well as thesecurity detail for thePrime Minister of Armenia. Now, it has lost those missions, in part because of a perception within the Armenian government that the agency maintains its own interests and alliances inconsistent with national interests.[3] It is expected to be entirely dissolved within three years.[4] The NSS is currently headquartered on Nalbandyan Street in theKentron district of downtownYerevan.
A 2018 stamp dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the security services of Armenia
In late September 1991, Soviet Armenia declared its independence and began the process of restructuring its Soviet-era security agencies, including theCommittee for State Security (KGB) of the Armenian SSR.[5] According to a law on the structure and composition of the government adopted on 4 December 1991, the KGB was renamed the State Directorate of National Security, with Major General Husik Suren Harutyunyan becoming its first director, serving until February 1992.[6]
Between 1996 and 1999, the government went through the process of uniting the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs into one department. Despite rumors that the NSS will be dismembered into several departments to follow a Russian format, the service runs with aKGB-style semi-militarized structure which remains unchanged since its establishment. On 17 December 2002, PresidentRobert Kocharyan restructured the National Security Ministry into the NSS.[7][8]
The NSS has traditionally been structured closer to its predecessor, the KGB, than other post-Soviet states, however since reforms by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in 2018, the service has reorganized and consolidated. Two services have been derived directly from the organization of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB):[13][14]
Department of Intelligence
Department of Counterintelligence
Department of Military Counterintelligence
Department of Protection of Constitutional Order and Fight against Terrorism – modeled on the 2nd Service of the Russian FSB[14]
Department of Economic Security and Countering Corruption – modeled on the 4th Service of the Russian FSB[14]
Service in the NSS is open to allArmenian citizens under the age of 30 who are fluent inArmenian. Males must have fulfilled or been exempted fromcompulsory service requirements. All applicants must meet military physical fitness requirements, and pass physical and mental health examinations as well as apolygraph. The service prefers recruits speak at least one other language, while recruits who attend training programs in Russia must also be fluent inRussian.[15]
NSS intelligence officers are often trained through the intelligence schools of the Russian Federation, to include theFederal Security Service (FSB)academy. Students who attend the FSB academy graduate from the five year residential program with a degree in law and a commission as a lieutenant in the Armenian military.[15]
Recruits to theArmenian Border Guard attend five year residential training programs in Russia at theOryol campus of the FSB'sMoscow Border Institute, or either theKurgan orKaliningrad Border Guard Institutes, graduating with a degree in engineering and a commission as a lieutenant in the Border Guard.[15]
In April 2021,[16] group of former senior NSS officials formed an organization called the Union of NSS Reserve Officers. The union includes, in particular, ex-director of the NSSArtur Vanetsyan, former commander of the border troops Armen Abrahamyan, former Deputy Head of the NSS Grigory Harutyunyan, and former Acting Director of the NSS Mikael Hambardzumyan. The task of the union is to confront the challenges and threats to security, collect facts of the subversive activities of some structures, and use the experience of officers to solve the country's security problems. Although initially created as an apolitical structure, it supported the army officials who signeda statement drafted byGeneral Staff calling for the resignation of Prime MinisterNikol Pashinyan.[17]
