National Security Service (Armenia)

National Security Service of Armenia

Հայաստանի Ազգային Անվտանգության Ծառայություն
Seal of the NSS
NSS headquarters in Yerevan
Agency overview
Formed	4 December 1991
Preceding agency	KGB of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic
Jurisdiction	Government of Armenia
Headquarters	104 Nalbandyan Street, Yerevan, Armenia 40°10′55″N 44°31′23″E / 40.182°N 44.523°E / 40.182; 44.523
Employees	Undisclosed
Agency executive	Colonel Armen Abazyan, Director
Website	www.sns.am

The National Security Service (NSS) (Armenian: Հայաստանի Ազգային Անվտանգության Ծառայություն, romanized: Hayastani Azgayin Anvtangut’yan Tsarrayut’yun) is the principal intelligence service of Armenia, responsible for foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, national security affairs, and cryptography. The service is also responsible for the Armenian Border Guard and the security detail for the Prime Minister of Armenia.^[1][2] The NSS succeeded the KGB of the Armenian SSR following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Despite other former Soviet republics reorganizing their intelligence services and modeling them on the Russian intelligence community, the organizational structure of the NSS remains closer to that of the former KGB, composed mainly of active duty members of the Ministry of Defence. The NSS is headquartered on Nalbandyan Street in the Kentron district of downtown Yerevan.