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Between the
two World Wars (1918 – 1941)
After World War I,
one of the first tasks of the governing bodies was to
establish an effective intelligence-security system,
which could withstand all internal and external threats.
On December 20th 1918, the Ministerial Council (the
Government) was formed by the Decree of Regent
Aleksandar Karadjordjevic that included the Ministry of
Interior in charge of the tasks of state security.
In 1920, state security activities were transferred to
the newly established Department for State Protection
within the Ministry of Interior.
This organizational form existed until 1929 when the Law
on Internal Administration was passed, dividing the
Ministry of Interior into two organizational units:
1) The Directorate for Public Security, which comprised
four sections:
a) Administration
b) Criminal Police
c) Traffic Police
d) Technical Police
2) The Directorate for National Security, which
comprised three sections:
a) Political, Head of the Section
b) Special Intelligence and State Protection
c) Special Security Section
The Political Section represented the Police
Headquarters and was tasked with suppressing activities
of political opponents to the regime, especially
activities of left-wing organizations.
The Special Intelligence Section was in charge of
counterintelligence work.
Special Security Section was in charge of keeping
records on persons significant for national security. It
organized analytical work and it had the Central Filing
Office within its structure.
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