International Terrorism in the Bulgarian State Security Files, Documentary Volume

There is an exciting new book in Bulgaria just published by an agency with one of the longest titles and acronyms in English that I have ever seen: the Committee on Disclosure the Documents and Announcing Affiliation of Bulgarian Citizens to the State Security and the Intelligence Services of the Bulgarian National Army -- CDDAABCSSISBNA.

The title of the book is International Terrorism in the Bulgarian State Security Files, Documentary Volume. The book, the third in the series of documentary volumes published by the CDDAABCSSISBNA, is a collection of selected documents, which are “thematically centered around various examples of international terrorism on Bulgarian soil or related to Bulgaria in the Cold War era.“ The book contains copies of 98 original documents with English summaries. The forward and book summary are also in English. The book is divided into “four interrelated sections”:

• The first one covers key guideline documents shedding light on the internal organization of the security services -- e.g. the creation of special divisions over the years and their restructuring in line with the new tasks related to assessment and countering of international terrorism.
• The second section introduces operational and analytical information on more than a hundred international terrorist organizations, obtained by Bulgarian Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence units, or through information exchange with the KGB and other East European services.
• The third section incorporates documents on the presence and activity of international terrorists on Bulgarian territory, and the related counter-terrorist response during the last Cold War decade.
• The fourth section traces international counter-terrorism cooperation. 

In my blogs The Last Tango in Munich and Revolutionary Greetings: Carlos the Jackal and the People’s Republic of Hungary, we looked at the terrorist commonly known as Carlos the Jackal.  There are at least three documents of interest in the new book in Bulgaria that deal with Carlos the Jackal--summaries in English:

18. Intelligence gathered by VGU-DS regarding a meeting of representatives of interna- tional terrorist organizations in Sofia, Sofia, 4 January 1984. (AKRDOPBGDSRSBNA - M, Fond IV-K, Arhivna edinitsa 11472, p. 53)

Operational data acquired from agent „“Hasan“ concerning a secret Sofia meeting of representatives of Arab and West European terrorist organizations, with the participation of the international terrorist a.k.a. Carlos (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez).

36. PGU-DS Information containing data on the international terrorist a.k.a. Carlos, Sofia, 11 September 1985. (AKRDOPBGDSRSBNA - R, Fond Literni dela , Reg. No. 16421, Vol. 1, pp. 223-224)

Information obtained from Bulgarian intelligence sources on the views, activity and contacts of the notorious international terrorist a.k.a. Carlos (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez). An opinion is expressed that Carlos should be prevented from entering Bulgaria.

76. Proposal from VGU-DS. Department 11 regarding the termination of the Group Case for Operational Investigation “Lynx“, Sofia, 30 March 1989. (AKRDOPBGDSRSBNA - M, Fond IV-K, Arhivna edinitsa 11472, pp. 291-292)

The proposal refers to termination of the operational investigation on the leader, and the most active members of the World Revolution terrorist organization. The document covers biographical information on Carlos (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) and other terrorists, as well as an account of their actions on Bulgarian territory in the period 1983-1986.

The book was compiled by Dr. Kostadin Grozev, Tatyana Kiryakova, and Dr. Jordan Baev. According to Dr. Jordan Baev, Associate Professor in Contemporary History and Senior Fellow in Security Studies at the G.S. Rakovsky Defense and Staff College, the book is

• Based on newly declassified Bulgarian Intelligence & Counterintelligence archival documents for the period 1969-1991.
• The Volume will be presented at Sofia University on Monday, November 29th. It could be downloaded in a PDF format from December 1st at Internet address: www.comdos.bg  or from December 10th at Sofia University Digital Library - www.sudigital.org 
• In March 2011, there also will be available a broader digital version of about 500 documents (3000 pgs)