RIGA - Parliament has overwhelmingly voted to re-appoint the head of Latvia's national security agency despite widespread reports of alleged U.S. lobbying on behalf of the candidate.
Janis Kazocins, a former British military officer, will remain the head of the Constitution Protection Bureau, Latvia's leading intelligence-gathering and counterintelligence organization.
The April 17 vote passed with 68 lawmakers in favor of Kazocins and 16 against. The remaining either abstained or were absent.
"I am glad about the tacit agreement in Parliament on re-appointing of Kazocins as the Constitution Protection Bureau head. I am sure that in the next five years Kazocins will convince those lawmakers who presently think differently that the decision had been right," former Foreign Minister Atis Pabriks said during a round of debates preceding the vote.
But not everyone was happy with Kazocins re-appointment. Some lawmakers accused the United States of exerting undue influence over the decision, a charge which both the president and the prime minister deny.
Kazocins, for his part, said he has only met with the current U.S. ambassador once and the former ambassador once.
"I have few relations with ambassadors," the spy chief told LNT.
Interior Minister Mareks Seglins, however, readily acknowledged the United States' role in Kazocins' re-election, saying the U.S. ambassador implied his support for the candidate.
Seglins also said the fact Kazocins was supported by the United States played a major role in his own decision to back the candidate.
The minister said he did not think Latvia should be ashamed of its indirect compliance with the U.S.'s wishes.
In one of his first interviews since his re-appointment, Kazocins praised EU and NATO membership as a means to protect state secrets.
"We should not forget that our own state interests are primary and the best way to protect them is through the EU and NATO," he told LNT on April 18.
The spy chief also used the opportunity to blast Russia, which he says has increased its interest in conducting intelligence-gathering operations in Latvia over the past few years.
"It is absolutely clear that Russia wants to regain its status of a large country… one way to regain its influence is by obtaining information which allows manipulations, thus, using its position to subordinate Latvia and the Baltic states for the interests of Russia," he said.
Latvia has three state security institutions 's Constitution Protection Bureau, the Security Police and the Military Intelligence Service 's each with its own functions. The Constitution Protection Bureau is responsible for intelligence and counterintelligence, the protection of state secrets and safeguarding NATO and EU classified information.
Kazocins, 57, was born in the U.K. and attended the Sandhurst Military Academy, an officer training school. He later earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Nottingham.
In 2002 he retired from the British military and returned to Latvia to undergo naturalization. One year later was appointed as the head of the Constitution Protection Bureau.
