Lithuania intends to extend classified info exchange pacts with Israel

VILNIUS - Lithuania plans to extend the existing agreement signed with Israel more than a decade ago on the exchange of classified information, and it will go beyond the exchange of military, Lithuania's State Security Department says.

"In 2011, an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and Israel's Defense Ministry authorized by the Government of the State of Israel was already signed on the exchange of classified military and defense-related information, but in view of the need for the operational exchange of classified information for the purpose of ensuring national security, the aim is to extend the scope of the agreement beyond the exchange of classified military information," the SSD told BNS last week.

The draft prepared by the SSD asks the government to give Giedrius Krupauskas, deputy director at the SSD, a mandate to negotiate and sign an expanded agreement with Israeli institutions on the exchange of classified information and its mutual protection.

According to the SSD, the international agreement is also aimed at facilitating cooperation between the Lithuanian and Israeli institutions in the area of national security to ensure the protection of exchanged or jointly stored classified information.

According to the SSD, Lithuania has signed international agreements on the mutual protection of classified information with other non-NATO member states, such as Georgia, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Ukraine.

Any information constituting a state secret is transferred only to those foreign states, the European Union or international organizations with which Lithuania has signed such agreements, the department underlined.

"Such information is transferred to foreign states, the European Union or international organizations, with which the Republic of Lithuania has not signed agreements on mutual protection of classified information, by a decision of the Commission for Secrets Protection Co-ordination," the department wrote.

The SSD was tasked by the commission to initiate an international agreement with Israel.