BRIGADIER GENERAL ZSIGMOND TÖMÖSVÁRY, PhD ACTIVITY OF THE ACADEMIC COMMITTEE OF THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY

After the social and political change of system, in parallel with the transformations of the Hungarian Defense Forces (HDF) and the military national security services, also the system of the academic activities at the predecessor of the Military Intelligence Office (MIO) of the Republic of Hungary (HDF Defense Staff Military Intelligence Office) and at the present MIO itself has undergone several changes. The MIO of the Republic of Hungary (RoH) – similarly to its predecessor – has always paid great attention to the academic research and development, which represents a peculiar professional field and requires wide scientific and academic knowledge. The MIO is predestinated to pursue academic activities because of its basic mission, the military defense of RoH. It is also predestined to carry out not only military scientific research in a narrow sense, but to promote scientifically founded professional (even language) education of its personnel and to perform scholarly elaborated planning, organizational and executive work, in all fields of its activity.

Some words about the very beginning:

            In keeping with the provisions set forth in the science and academic policy guidelines of the Government, the HDF Commander regulated (in his order no. 56/ 1992-HK-22) the procedures to be followed in academic activity. Later, the Minister of Defense issued his decree (no. 48/1993-HK-23) that ordered the establishment of the Educational and Academic Council of MoD.
            After the above arrangements, also the MIO decided to create the frameworks of the academic work. Major General Lajos Fodor, Head of the HDF Defense Staff Military Intelligence Office regulated the academic activity (in his order no.48/1993). The order pointed out in its introduction that – on the recommendation of the Military Academic Committee of Academic Qualificatory Committee – the Chairmanship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences had reconfirmed the MIO in its research place quality. This was very important for us, since the MIO’s predecessor had been earlier a well-known and acknowledged research place within the MoD.
            The leader of the MIO – by issuing his above order – set up the Scientific Committee, the predecessor of the present Academic Committee (AC). According to the order, “the AC is a body that assists in scientific (academic) fields the head of office in elaborating decisions, making proposals and assessments, as well as in coordinating relevant activities”. Its mission is “to lay the scientific foundations of the MIO’s main activities, evaluate the results of the researches related to these activities, so as that the results can be efficiently applied in the HDF”. It is but natural that all these have to be done by the AC in such a way to pay due regard to the implementation of the tasks and objectives arising from the MIO’s research place status.

            The Academic Committee was established as follows:

The Office lost its research place status in 1995, since the new laws on the Academy of Sciences and higher education re-regulated the former scientific (academic) activity and its institutional background. The newly nominated research places were indicated in the 3.3.b. point of the document on “the guidelines of the scientific work pursued in the MoD and in the HDF”, issued on 30 May 1995. Unfortunately, our office was not mentioned in this document, nevertheless it had (and has) all the possibilities and capabilities to function as a research place. This can be proved also by the fact that our office – arising from its basic mission – has been dealing with the acquisition, elaboration and assessment of such pieces of information which are directly related to our country’s security, and help the decision-makers in their work by providing scientifically underpinned reports and assessments.

Reorganization of our academic work:

            The Law No. CXXV of 1995 on the National Security Services created a new situation. On 1 September 1996, the Military Intelligence Office of the Republic of Hungary began its activity, with due regard also to the academic work, whose importance and necessity have never been put in question.
In the meantime, also other significant changes took place. In 1996-2000 the changes in the security policy situation of our country got a significant impulse, which entailed marked rearrangements in the MoD’s activities as a whole, including its academic activity. The most significant element of these changes was the adoption of the parliamentary decree no. 94/1998 (on basic security- and defense policy principles of the RoH) and our joining the NATO (on 12 March 1999).
            Many important laws and decrees were adopted and issued also concerning the HDF’s long-term transformation. All these changes made it necessary for the military leadership to adjust also the academic activity to the new conditions. The guiding principle was represented by the “Guidelines of the Minister of Defense for the organizations at the defense portfolio governing their academic/scientific activities” (HK 19/2001). The Minister clarified in this document the notion, principles, purposes, system, bases, organizational frameworks of the academic activity, as well as the cooperation in this field and the financial conditions. He determined quite high-level personal and material requirements for the research places as well.
            All these changes and requirements offered good possibility and provided further encouragement for the MIO leadership to “screen”, review and determine the purposes, structure, personal and material conditions of the academic work.
            Colonel Zsigmond Tömösváry, Human Director and Colonel Mihály Szabó, Director for Analysis and Assessment prepared their proposals on the reorganization of the academic work at MIO and submitted them to the Director General. The revival of the academic activity was welcomed and actively supported by our organizational elements. We would like to emphasize in this regard the support of Colonel Eng. Károly Madarász, HUMINT Deputy of the Director General (later the Chairman of the Academic Committee) and the devoted participation in the preparation process of Lieutenant Colonel János Jakus PhD (later the Secretary of the AC), who had a significant role in the elaboration and realization of the essential tasks.
            The most urgent tasks during the reorganization process were: reelection of the AC, elaboration of its working order, preparation of the MIO’s middle-and long-term academic work schedules, determination and adoption of the main research topics, as well as the finding of appropriate financial funds necessary for a successful and effective academic activity.
            In appointing candidates for AC membership, we deemed it necessary to form such a group of persons in which all of the main professional fields are represented.
            Major General Ferenc Morber, Director General of MIO made arrangements in his order no. 17/2001 for the establishment of the Academic Committee, which was set up in the following composition:

On10 January 2002, the reelected Academic Committee adopted at its first session the draft order of the Director General on the AC’s work schedule and yearly budget, as well as the rules of its spending; made deliberation on its 2002 work schedule, and took decision on its research and academic programs for 2002. All this was incorporated in the order no. 2/2002 of the Director General.
The AC pursued its activity in the spirit of the MoD Guidelines (mentioned above), as well as in accordance with the relevant orders (MoD – 23/2002, HK-11; 76/200, HK-25; and MIO Director General – 17/2001 and 2/2002). In preparing our yearly work schedule, we took into consideration the special – mostly scientific – research programs and meetings to be implemented in the various professional fields of the MIO, which, in our opinion, have scientifically underpinned the successful fulfillment of our professional tasks.
Besides the tasks included in our work schedule, the AC set for itself the following two important objectives:

We succeeded in achieving both objectives! We elaborated the draft report on qualifying the MIO as a research place. We submitted it to the MoD Educational and Academic Council, which considered it at its 2 October 2002 meeting and submitted it to the Minister of Defense. The Minister – in his decree no. 74/2002 – approved the document and declared that the MIO is again a research place as from 1 November 2002.

 

 

The Academic Committee decided at its 7 February 2002 meeting to establish an independent periodical, entitled as Intelligence Review (IR) and elected its Editorial Board.

It was the autumn of 2002 that the fist copy of the Intelligence Review appeared and received a very warm welcome by the MoD and HDF leaders, as well as by the academic circles.
The AC had five regular meetings in 2002. Its deliberations, standpoints and decisions taken at these meetings are recorded in the minutes.

The AC members made a visit – in order to enter into relation with partner institutions – to the MoD Strategic and Defense Research Office (SDRO), where they were promised to receive support to the preparation of our PhD candidates. They visited also our Siklos base, where they could get information about a special practical field of SIGINT.
From our 2002 work schedule only one conference on the “Reconnaissance/Intelligence Support to Peacekeeping Missions” was postponed – because of technical problems – to the following year. All the other programs were successfully implemented.
The AC’s activity in 2002 was supported by a sum of 3.2m HUF budgetary appropriations, which proved to be enough for the implementation of the tasks envisaged for that year.
All in all, 2002 represented a very important year for the AC. On the one hand, we managed to rebuild our organizational structure, elaborate plans for our further activity, reorganize our relation system, publish a periodical and consolidate again our position among the research places. On the other hand, we succeeded in pursuing substantial and useful activities – even “in the beginning year” – and thus, in scientifically underpinning the MIO’s professional work.
 Between 2003 and 2007, we continued our activities on the basis of the following programs approved by the Director General: Middle-Term Scientific Programs of the MIO of the RoH (for the periods of 2003-2006, 2004-2007, 2005-2008, 2006-2009, 2007-2010); as well as in accordance with the AC’s yearly work schedules and the Scientific Work- and Meeting Programs of the MIO.
Our middle-term objectives has been focused on:

In addition to the objectives described in the middle-term plans, we select every year 18-22 research topics, with the help of the competent organizations, determining the timeframes for the submission of the given study.
These topics are generally so important and comprehensive that their complete elaboration takes 2 or 3 years. Thus, they are in the majority of cases “protracted” into the following years, due also to their persistently timely nature.
Nevertheless, we succeeded in “closing”, among others, the following topics:

Our “protracted” subjects were for example:

In accordance with our work schedule, we hold every year four regular meetings and one festive session, all of them with 5-7 agenda items. At the ceremonial session we commemorate the Day of the Hungarian Science and reward 2-3 persons who have outstandingly supported our academic activity.
The AC is really instrumental in contributing to the smooth functioning of MIO, as a research place. In addition that the MIO’s professional sections provide consultation possibilities for those coming from civil and military high educational institutes, our library (with its 24,000 volumes) gives help to our and outside researchers in their academic work.
Between 2003 and 2005, every year 26-28 researchers have regularly visited our library. In 2006 as much as 36 persons asked for and received research permit.
Similarly, every year, we invite undergraduates from the ZM National Defense University to gain field experience at the MIO. Furthermore, the AC supports them by ensuring consultations and assists them in finding tutors and referees within the MIO, for the elaboration of their professional essays and studies. We help in organizing private or group visits to the MIO museum, or in preparing articles as well as in delivering lectures at military and civil educational institutions.
The AC has made significant efforts in organizing and preparing – with the help of the Editorial Board operating within the AC’s framework – the regular edition of the MIO’s scientific periodical; the Intelligence Review. Moreover, the AC has efficiently contributed to the modernization of the existing military higher educational system and the establishment of its new system (Bologna Process – ZMNDU national defense faculty) as well as to the education of the PhD candidates.
As regards our PhD candidates, we have to mention that the AC heard 2-3 of them to get information on their studies and to assist them with advices and recommendations in their research and academic work. In the last two years, three candidates defended their thesis with “Summa cum laude”. Currently there are 19 MIO officers studying in the PhD schools at the ZMNDU.
The Intelligence Review appears quarterly. In addition, we publish every year at least one non-public (classified) volume and one special edition on conferences. The open volumes appear in 200 copies, the classified ones in 40 copies and the special editions as demanded.
The periodical offers opportunity for PhD candidates to meet their obligations related to regular publishing, and promotes our cooperation with other research places, since also outside researchers can publish in the IR, if they have appropriate subjects to write about.
Academic circles continue to be highly interested in our periodical. The Committee of Military Science at the IX Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) continues to enumerate our IR on the list of those valuable literatures that “can be used in the HAS doctorate procedure”.
We enlarged in 2005 the IR’s Editorial Board to five persons and in 2006 to six members. Also the seasoned responsible redactor pursues his activity as a member of the Board, who – in cooperation with the page-setter and the printers – takes great care in putting in final shape and issuing the periodical with high-value studies and articles.
The Editorial Board gives its consent only to the publication of those materials that have been read and supervised by experts.
Among the events organized by the AC, the following conferences and lectures took a distinguished place:
In 2004:

In 2005:

In 2006:

Besides the regular meetings, the academic relations have an important role in he AC’s activities. We cultivate such relations with the research places and workshops at MoD, as well as at military and civil national security services. From among them we have outstanding cooperation with ZMNDU, Hungarian Association of Military Science, Museum of Military History, Military Security Office, Corvinus University, Kodolányi University College, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and recently with the Association of Intelligence Officers Non-Profit Society.
The AC’s yearly budget was 6m HUF, which made it possible, on each occasion, for the committee to carry out its tasks.

We wished to summarize in the above report the fist five year-history of he AC. From the establishment of the AC, between 2002 and 2006 the committee’s work had been chaired – to everybody’s satisfaction – by Major General Eng. Károly Madarász.
Due to the changes in MIO personnel, the AC’s composition from 1 January 2007 is as follows:

Making use of the experiences gained during the last five years, in January 2007 the Director General re-regulated the AC’s activity, in the “Order no. 1/2007 of the MIO’s Director General on the AC’s task, working order, budget and its spending rules”.
In our judgment, the re-regulation has created a suitable framework and latitude for the AC to pursue successfully its activity also in the future.

News of the academic life:

 

On 6 November 2007 – in accordance with the AC’s planned sessions and meetings as well as its working order – a breaking-up ceremony took place at the MIO’s building in the Bartók Béla Street.
As the end of the year draws near, it is almost compulsory for us to deliberate about the followings:

Moreover, the AC dealt with two important issues: we commemorated at a ceremonial meeting the Feast of the Hungarian Science, and elected new AC members to replace those officers who had retired.
The participants at the ceremonial meeting were addressed by Colonel Eng. Róbert Szedlacsek, who recalled the salient historical events of the Hungarian science, the establishment of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the excellent results of the Hungarian scholars, emphasizing the significance of the science – especially its military branch – in the development of our society.
Later on, Brigadier General Zsigmond Tömösváry, PhD, AC Chairman handed over recognitions to those who had been actively and successfully participating in the organization and realization of our academic tasks. There were awarded: Colonel Dr Lajos Rácz, Colonel Ferenc Pados, Brigadier General Eng. Tibor Pászka, Colonel Eng. Csaba Marton and those civil servants who had devotedly provided technical support to the AC’s activity.
Besides, also Colonel Imre Sallai, PhD, AC Secretary was awarded for his excellent organizational and academic work.
At the end of the meeting, we elected by show of hands the new AC members, according to the relevant rules and respecting the principle that all the main elements of the MIO’s structure have to be represented in the committee.
As from 6 November 2007, the Academic Committee of MIO of RoH pursues its activity in the following composition:

 

The minutes-keeper continues to be Sergeant Major Krisztina Tóth. In the meantime, by virtue of the decision taken by the AC, also the IR’s Editorial Board was enlarged and will continue its work as follows:

We are going to provide regularly new information to the Honorable Visitor on the salient events of the activity pursued by the AC.