On Tuesday, 17 November 2020, a round table entitled “The role of the national security system during the covid-19 crisis: experiences and lessons of individual subsystems at the operational level” was held in a virtual environment, organized by the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia and the Department of Defense at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

 

The experiences and role of the Slovenian Police, the Slovenian Army and the Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief in dealing with the Kovid crisis were presented by:

  • Jože Senica, Deputy Director General of the Slovenian Police,
  • Brigadier general Miha Škerbinc, Commander of the Slovenian Armed Forces and
  • Olga Andrejek, director of the Office for Prevention, Training and International Cooperation from the Protection and Rescue Administration of the Republic of Slovenia.

Over a hundred participants of the round table got acquainted first hand with the findings, solutions and challenges facing the Slovenian national security system. Although healthcare is a key system for dealing with the crisis, the institutions presented play an important supporting role, without which the situation would be even more critical.

 

The key highlights from the presentations and roundtable discussions are:

  • The Slovenian Police, the Slovenian Army and the subsystem for protection against natural and other disasters have adopted a wide range of operational measures to deal with the crisis.
  • Emphasized concern for the health and safety of its own staff, as a high level of illness among police, military and protection and rescue staff would weaken the functionality of key national security mechanisms.
  • All systems have implemented some positive solutions during the crisis, while also facing various concerns and dilemmas.
  • The importance of international cooperation.
  • In the Slovenian Police, the Slovenian Army and in the field of protection and rescue, they learned a lot after the first phase of the Crown Crisis, which they introduced operational plans, organization and operation in the second phase.
  • We can be cautiously optimistic about the readiness of the Slovenian Police, the Slovenian Army and the subsystem of protection against natural and other disasters to face the challenges of continuing the crisis and we hope to emerge stronger and better prepared from this crisis.