The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) James Comey paid an official visit to Bulgaria earlier this week - the third one of its kind for the past 14 years. All three visits of FBI directors occurred during rightwing governments. The first, of Louis Freeh in 2001 during the term of the Ivan Kostov cabinet, coincided with a moment of strong tensions in Sofia-Moscow relations following the expulsion of three Russian diplomats accused of espionage for which the guest supported the Bulgarian side.

The two visits of FBI directors that took place next - of Robert Mueller in 2011 and of James Comey only recently were held during the term of governments led by Boyko Borissov. The most recent visit coincided again with a moment of major tension in Sofia-Moscow relations pertaining to the conflict in Ukraine. By the way Boyko Borissov is a desired partner not only by the leadership of the US counter-intelligence judging from the fact that during the term of his first cabinet Bulgaria saw visits by Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta (2010) and by Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan (2011).

Despite the intensity of bilateral exchange between the secret services it would be an exaggeration to claim that the reciprocal Bulgarian services are an exclusive partner of the US ones. Transatlantic interest in them is mostly guided by interest in the region of Southeast Europe: let us recall that before Sofia, James Comey paid a visit to Bucharest.

The essence of contacts between secret services is determined to a great extent by the challenges in the region. During the visits of Louis Freeh in 2001 and Robert Mueller in 2011 challenges boiled down to cross-border organized crime, drug trafficking in the Balkans and laying the foundations of direct cooperation between the law-enforcement bodies of the two countries. Now during James Comey's visit special attention was given to the fight against terrorism, the need of a new anti-terrorist legislation and combating corruption. What is new this time is that an FBI head has made a commitment for practical training of Bulgarian prosecutors specialized in fighting terrorism. More weight was given to cooperation in combating financial fraud and especially in preventing the legalization of illegal money. As the FBI Director Comey put it, thanks to the internet, Bulgaria and the United States are practically neighboring countries in combating organized crime, terrorism and cybercrime.

James Comey paid a visit to Sofia during the first part of his 10-year term as FBI director. This according to him means more visits to Bulgaria on his schedule, and in view of common stands on combating crime, cooperation between the US counter-intelligence and its Bulgarian partners is likely to grow, and this is likely to start happening soon.

English Daniela Konstantinova