The new head of the military secret service is a top spy with honors and a school close to the ODS

In the year of the beginning of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, the agenda of Military Intelligence fundamentally changed. The situation for his member Petr Bartovský has also changed. Just the year before last, he became the director of the 23rd office within the service, which is the designation for its counterintelligence. He is responsible for the collection of knowledge and action against a foreign power.

Brigadier General Bartovský reports directly to the head of the entire operative of the Military Intelligence, Radek Horáček, who is the first deputy of the current director of the service, Jan Beroun. It is Bartovský who will replace him in the position after the decision of the government of Petr Fiala on Wednesday. Beroun has been running the military secret service for almost ten years.

Since 2008, Bartovský has been serving in the leadership positions of the counter-intelligence section of the Military Intelligence, he has alternated between the positions of deputy head of the department, head, deputy director of the department and director. “Due to the positions he held, he directly managed the performance of operational components of Military Intelligence, including national and international cooperation,” his biography states.

Kosovo, Sarajevo and excellent reviews

He joined the military secret service in 2001, when it was still called Military Defense Intelligence. He served as a senior officer in it for six years. In 2005, he performed the tasks of the KFOR mission in Kosovo, a year later he served in the international intelligence unit of the EUFOR mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I was in charge of the intelligence operation in this area and the support of our contingent,” said Bartovský about the service in Kosovo. He spent the second mentioned mission in Sarajevo. “Where I was in charge of coordinating agency networks in a specialized department that searched for war criminals,” the fifty-one-year-old general noted this year.

He started his military career in 1994, when he joined the army. He served in the units of the 1st Army Corps under the Ground Forces Command. The first year he was a platoon leader, the next two years he served as the chemical chief of the section, the next year he served as a senior officer, and he spent the last two years in the army as a leading senior officer.

“Brigadier General Ing. Petr Bartovský, MPA, is a holder of a certificate of a natural person at the level of Top Secret. He has been rated excellent in all the positions he has held so far, he has extensive theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the performance of functions in Military Intelligence,” his biography summarizes.

Studies at Cevro and a course at the General Staff

In 2015, as the director of the counterintelligence department of Military Intelligence, he graduated from the Security and Crisis and Management study program at the Cevro Institute. The chairman of the board of directors of the school is the former minister of the interior and former long-time vice-chairman of the ODS Ivan Langer.

Cevro has more people with experience in security or defense. Formally, national security adviser Tomáš Pojar (ODS) is one of the vice-chancellors there, former commander of the Czech army Jiří Šedivý teaches there, and former intelligence officer Jaroslav Kuchyňa and MEP and ex-Minister of Defense Alexandr Vondra (ODS) work in the internal research center.

Shortly before joining the army in 1994, Bartovský completed his bachelor’s degree at the High Military School of the Ground Forces in Vyškov, and completed his master’s program there only during his service in 1999. Eight years ago, he passed the general staff course intended for members of the Military Intelligence.

To function during the spring

“The general’s work so far gives us confidence that there will be continuity here. Because that is terribly important in Military Intelligence, intelligence in general,” said Minister of Defense Jana Černochová (ODS). Bartovský wants to concentrate on the internal functioning of the service, building intelligence networks and cooperation with BIS and intelligence.

On Wednesday, the cabinet not only approved his appointment as director, but also the dismissal of the current head of Military Intelligence, Jan Beroun. Minister Černochová will actually replace them. According to Aktuálně.cz sources, Bartovský is to take up the position of director during the spring, probably already in May.

“I would like to say that Mr. General Beroun did and continues to do an excellent job for our country, and Military Intelligence plays an important role in strengthening the security of the Czech Republic, especially in these very difficult times and in terms of the security and international situation,” said Prime Minister Fiala to the outgoing head of the service.

Beroun’s military service ends in October. How he will spend the rest of it after he leaves the director’s post is unclear. In any case, after his retirement to civilian life, Minister Černochová is interested in him continuing to work for the state. According to the newsroom, Beroun is not opposed to this option, but he definitely does not want a post abroad.