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SIPA investigators at a pilot training tailored according CT NATO DEEP standards

27/09/2024

A five-day training session on “Preventing and Combating Terrorism” for members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) was completed at the Agency for Education and Professional Training today. This pilot training session was conducted according to a new curriculum developed by AEPTM in cooperation with SIPA representatives, and in line with the NATO DEEP Program Reference Curriculum (CT NATO DEEP).

The cooperation between our agency and NATO is part of NATO's capacity-building package for Bosnia and Herzegovina (NATO-DEEP Defence Education Enhancement Program), which was extended to the Agency for Education and Professional Training last year.

Throughout 2023, the Agency for Education and Professional Training facilitated a series of meetings between NATO experts and representatives of SIPA, the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BP BiH), and the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina (DCPB).  Having reviewed the educational needs of the police agencies, NATO experts provided a detailed review of the NATO Reference Curriculum for counter-terrorism (CTRC), based on which three separate curricula were drafted for SIPA, BP and DCPB.

This pilot training was the first in a series of training sessions for SIPA investigators. In the coming period there will be pilot training sessions for members of BP BiH and DCPB. This programme of cooperation between our agency and NATO includes workshops for instructors for each module.

Marko Vujević, Director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training, thanked everyone involved in preparing the new counter-terrorism curricula in line with NATO DEEP. “I hope that the training will yield the desired results, both in terms of carrying out the complex tasks of SIPA investigators and specific duties of BP BiH and DCPB police officers. I look forward to working together with BP BiH and DCPB, whose police officers are yet to undergo the pilot training. None of this would have been possible without our long-time partners at the NATO headquarters in Sarajevo, and the support from Brussels in developing the common core curricula adapted to the specific tasks and duties of SIPA, BP BiH, and DCPB,” Vujević said.

Lidra Zegali, Security Institution Building Advisor at NATO Headquarters in Sarajevo, expressed her gratitude to the Agency for the cooperation and friendly relationship. “We are now reaping the rewards of work that began in April last year. This is a practical and very important step following the identification of areas where NATO can assist in educating and developing the capacities of police institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the fight against terrorism,” said Zegali, adding that only through joint efforts can the development of security institutions be achieved.

The pilot training covered both theoretical and practical topics, including: internal terrorist threats, terrorism financing and its link to crime, combating terrorism financing, biological threats, radiological and nuclear materials as new threats, the use of cyberspace, technology and converging technologies for terrorist purposes, the use of media for terrorist purposes, challenges related to foreign terrorist fighters and returnees, methods, tactics, techniques, procedures, etc.