Authors

Lyubomir Pozharliev¹;  ¹ Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Germany

Discussion

The text will discuss the following questions: What were the main reasons for formulating specific technological priorities of interest for the Bulgarian government and for the intelligence gathering - in principle and specifically towards Japan? Were they linked to the strategy of the COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) or were they an independent act of the Bulgarian state? How were the specific groups of states of interest formed in the State Security Department of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (Japan, for example, was in one group with the USA, Canada, Sweden - a very specific image of the "West"). Was the intelligence gathering one-sided process or an exchange of information and transfer of different types of knowledge, i.e. more about reciprocity in communication than stealing technology? What was the relationship between political and diplomatic actors and arrangements and scientific and technical intelligence officers in Japan? The presentation will be based on an analysis of documents of State Security Department of Scientific and Technical Intelligence, memoirs and in-depth interviews with officials who worked in Japan at that time.