Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) is undergoing another wave of leadership changes, with Deputy Director Tomislav Radovanović reportedly dismissed on Tuesday evening, according to the Serbian weekly Radar.
His removal comes amid a series of personnel changes at the agency following Radar’s reports alleging that its newsroom, along with other public figures, had been subjected to surveillance.
Earlier, Miloš Simić was removed from his position as head of BIA’s First Directorate and reportedly also had his employment contract terminated. Radar described the simultaneous dismissal and termination as unprecedented in the history of Serbia’s intelligence service.
According to sources cited by the publication, Simić’s dismissal was linked to his alleged refusal to comply with an unlawful order to falsify documentation concerning surveillance measures against Radar’s editors and journalists.
The documents in question reportedly include explanations for the introduction, continuation and termination of communication surveillance measures. Radar alleges that the agency attempted to alter these records in order to portray previously published documents about the surveillance as forged.
Simić was reportedly summoned to the agency in the early hours of the morning by senior BIA officials but refused to appear. His subordinates in the First Directorate allegedly took the same position, according to the publication’s sources.
The First Directorate was responsible for the relevant surveillance documentation. Under the agency’s previous organizational structure, it also covered counterintelligence, terrorism and organized crime.
Radovanović’s dismissal follows that of Olivera Munjić, head of the BIA director’s cabinet. Radar sources believe the recent changes are connected to the publication’s investigations into alleged surveillance of its newsroom.
Radovanović joined the BIA from Serbia’s Interior Ministry, where he had served as commander of the Intervention Unit. He later worked as a police attaché at Serbia’s embassy in France before returning to Belgrade to head the department responsible for special investigative methods, now known as the Interior Ministry’s Technical Directorate.
He came to wider public attention in 2021 after appearing on TV Prva, where he spoke about an alleged parallel structure within the Interior Ministry, formed during Nebojša Stefanović’s tenure as minister, which he claimed had monitored former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Radovanović took over as acting head of the BIA in December 2023, following the dismissal of Aleksandar Vulin. He remained in the position until June 2024, when Vladimir Orlić assumed leadership of the agency.
The latest dismissals point to growing turmoil within Serbia’s intelligence service, although the alleged connection between the personnel changes and the surveillance revelations has not been independently established.
