Serb Spy Agency Moves from Shadows to Cyberspace
for all you spys out there....
BELGRADE (Reuters) - A feared and shadowy organization during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites), Serbia's secret police agency has taken a recent drive for openness to new lengths -- it has launched its own Web site.
The site introduces the organization, its activities and budget, and comes complete with an illustrated history of spying in Serbia since medieval times.
It even reveals its street address -- once a well-kept secret -- and boasts a virtual tour of its premises.
And aspiring secret agents can apply online for a job with the Security and Information Agency (BIA), as it is now called.
Under Milosevic, secret police agents were widely suspected of involvement in the killing and abduction of the former Yugoslav president's political opponents. After his ouster in 2000, reformists began attempts to overhaul the service.
"This Web site presents our contribution to the effort to bring security affairs closer to all citizens of Serbia, and to offer a way of establishing mutual communication and a relationship of trust," the Web page says.
In return, the agency asks anyone with information about serious crimes under its jurisdiction to get in touch via e-mail.
The site, www.bia.sr.gov.yu, also has an English version and attempts to answer readers' questions -- in its own way.
"How can citizens recognize members of the BIA?" was one frequently asked question.
"Members of the BIA have official identity cards with the Security and Information Agency emblem, an identification number and photo," the site answers, displaying a few IDs.
"As if BIA agents go around showing their IDs in public," one local newspaper commented dryly.
for all you spys out there....
BELGRADE (Reuters) - A feared and shadowy organization during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites), Serbia's secret police agency has taken a recent drive for openness to new lengths -- it has launched its own Web site.
The site introduces the organization, its activities and budget, and comes complete with an illustrated history of spying in Serbia since medieval times.
It even reveals its street address -- once a well-kept secret -- and boasts a virtual tour of its premises.
And aspiring secret agents can apply online for a job with the Security and Information Agency (BIA), as it is now called.
Under Milosevic, secret police agents were widely suspected of involvement in the killing and abduction of the former Yugoslav president's political opponents. After his ouster in 2000, reformists began attempts to overhaul the service.
"This Web site presents our contribution to the effort to bring security affairs closer to all citizens of Serbia, and to offer a way of establishing mutual communication and a relationship of trust," the Web page says.
In return, the agency asks anyone with information about serious crimes under its jurisdiction to get in touch via e-mail.
The site, www.bia.sr.gov.yu, also has an English version and attempts to answer readers' questions -- in its own way.
"How can citizens recognize members of the BIA?" was one frequently asked question.
"Members of the BIA have official identity cards with the Security and Information Agency emblem, an identification number and photo," the site answers, displaying a few IDs.
"As if BIA agents go around showing their IDs in public," one local newspaper commented dryly.
