National Counter-Terrorism Centre Bulgaria - NCTC

The National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is a joint unit of four government agencies: State Agency for National Security, Ministry of the Interior, National Intelligence Service, and Ministry of Defence (through its Military Information Service and Military Police Service). The centre is responsible for facilitating the coordination and cooperation between the government agencies involved in the implementation of measures for countering terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation. It operates on 24/7 basis and provides information to the competent authorities, relevant for the detection, prevention and response to terrorist threats. The centre is also authorised to perform analysis and assessment of the terrorist threat of concrete objects or individuals as well as to suggest to the Minister of the Interior the level of threat to be determined and the degree of readiness to be introduced. The NCTC cooperates with all relevant government agencies, which are obliged to designate a contact person responsible for maintaining communication with the centre. It also prepares situation analysis of the threats of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation for the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Chair of the National Assembly.

The National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was created to provide coordination and facilitate cooperation between government agencies involved in the implementation of measures against terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation.

The NCTC was established by a decree of the government, which is a binding legal act. Moreover, since 2016, it is also provided for in the legislation, as the parliament included a provision on its tasks in the newly adopted Countering of Terrorism Act.

The practice is only transferrable if the implementing country has not already established a similar joint counterterrorism unit. Any country, interested in setting up such a unit, would need to first conduct a needs assessment including: (a) review of its national institutional infrastructure for countering terrorism, extremism and radicalisation; (b) assessment of the effectiveness of the existing mechanisms and channels for exchanging information between its components; and (c) identification of the gaps that such a unit would help overcome.

There is no mechanism for regular evaluation of the work of the NCTC. Information about its operation is included in the annual activity reports of the State Agency for National Security, but it is descriptive rather than evaluative. So far, a review of the operation of the NCTC was done only once, one year after its establishment. As a result of this review, the mandate of the centre was expanded to include violent extremism and radicalisation in addition to terrorism, and the rules governing the exchange of information were modified.

a) Multi-agency cooperation at the national level. The NCTC is a joint unit of four government agencies: State Agency for National Security, Ministry of the Interior, National Intelligence Service, and Ministry of Defence (through its Military Information Service and Military Police Service). Its operation also involves interaction with the following ministries and agencies: State Agency for National Security, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, Ministry of Healthcare, Ministry of Education and Science, Customs Agency, General Directorate Execution of Penalties and General Directorate Security of the Ministry of Justice, State Agency for Refugees, Nuclear Regulation Agency, Religious Denominations Directorate of the Council of Ministers, Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation, National Investigation Service, and National Security Service. In addition to that, the NCTC provides information about the security environment and the threats of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation to the President of the Republic, the Chair of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister.
b) International cooperation. The NCTC exchanges information with the counterterrorism services all Member States of NATO and the EU.

Information about the size of the budget of the NCTC is not publicly available. However, the government’s decree for establishing the centre clearly states that its activities must be funded through the budgets of the agencies involved in its operation. These include the State Agency for National Security, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Intelligence Service, and two specialised services of the Ministry of Defence (Military Information Service and Military Police Service). The same agencies designate their officials to work for the NCTC, as the centre itself has no staff of its own. The State Agency for National Security, which formally hosts the NCTC, covers also its expenses related to logistics, including the operation of the counterterrorist hotline, through which citizens can signal for terrorist threats.

Council of Ministers. 2015. Decree No 198 of 27 July 2015 on the establishment of National Counter-Terrorism Centre. Sofia.

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The objectives of the NCTC are still valid, because the threats associated with terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation are still pending. The operation of the centre is consistent with overall goal and the attainment of its objectives as well as with its intended impact. The centre is effectively collecting and exchanging information at both national and international level, which is the main objective for its establishment.

The effectiveness of the NCTC cannot be fully assessed, because there have not been any serious threats related to terrorism, violent extremism or radicalisation to test its ability to respond to emergency situations. Nevertheless, the centre has achieved its objective to improve the coordination and cooperation between the relevant actors in the area of countering terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation. The major factors influencing the achievement of the objective were: (a) the setting up of the centre through a binding decree of the government, which obliged all relevant agencies to contribute to its activities, and (b) the adoption of rules, which clearly defined the division of responsibilities between the different stakeholders and the leading role of the State Agency for National Security.

A detailed evaluation of efficiency cannot be done, because the information about the funding of the NCTC is not publicly available. Nevertheless, the model of sharing the costs between the agencies involved in the operation of centre can be assessed as a good practice. The objectives have been achieved on time and the centre became operational less than one month after the government adopted the decree for its establishment. Alternative solutions have not been discussed, which prevents the assessment of this aspect of efficiency.

The main result of the establishment of the NCTC is improved coordination and cooperation between the public agencies involved in the prevention and countering of terrorism, violent extremism and radicalisation. The centre also operates a counterterrorist hotline for institutions, organisations and citizens to provide information about potential terrorist threats, which did not exist before its establishment. However, due to the lack of serious threats related to terrorism, violent extremism or radicalisation, the impact of the centre in a situation of immediate threat cannot be evaluated.

The NCTC is envisaged in the legislation, which makes it more sustainable compared to other initiatives and measures, which are laid down only in policy strategies and programmes. The centre has been operational for more than three years now, and, according to the annual activity reports of the State Agency for National Security, is successfully performing its tasks. Furthermore, the NCTC is explicitly referred to in the Strategy for Countering Radicalisation and Terrorism 2015-2020 and the action plan for its implementation. One of the objectives of the strategy is to ensure that, when information related to terrorism is obtained, it is exchanged ‘quickly and timely between the national counterterrorist units with the leading role of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre located in the State Agency for National Security’.

The NCTC cooperates with all relevant government agencies at national level. The counterterrorist hotline enables individuals and civil society organisations to also contribute to the operation of the centre. At the same time, there are no rules governing the involvement of local authorities. They can send information through the hotline, but, unlike the agencies at national level, are not obliged to designate contact persons responsible for exchanging information with the NCTC. The non-inclusion of local authorities might have a negative impact, because in many cases they are the ones to first encounter signs of terrorist threats, violent extremism or radicalisation.