From 6 to 8 January 2003 a group of experts from the NATO Office of Security, led by its Deputy Director Bridget Austin, visited Latvia. The NATO experts met with representatives of the Constitution Protection Bureau, Security Police, the Military Counterintelligence Service of the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The aim of the visit was to appraise the existing situation with respect to information security, and together with Latvian officials to identify further tasks to be fully accomplished within the next 15 months - that is, prior to the 2004 NATO Summit when, in the event of successful ratification of its accession protocol, Latvia will become a full-fledged NATO member state.

NATO experts made a detailed analysis of such aspects of security of classified information as: the clarity and preciseness of national legislation, including its conformity to NATO standards; the system of security checks of persons working with NATO information, and the system's reliability; the controlled circulation of classified documents; the physical protection of documents; and matters related to the safe electronic transmission of NATO information.

Several inspections by experts from the Office of Security are expected to occur in 2003 and the beginning of 2004 so as to confirm whether the requisite progress has been achieved.

During the visit, head of the NATO delegation Bridget Austin met with Latvia's Prime Minister Einars Repse to discuss issues related to Latvia's planned reorganization of its security services. Ms Austin also had a meeting with President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

(end of text)