From: NZWeek

SOFIA, April 4  — Bulgarian caretaker Defense Minister Todor Tagarev here on Thursday said his country wanted to contribute more to NATO’s cyber defense.

“To be able to contribute more to NATO in this area, we have to unite the national conceptual, operational, technological and business potential,” Tagarev said in a public speech entitled “Future Challenges ahead of Defense Policy.”

An ambition of his ministry was to develop a program about Bulgaria’s cyber defense capabilities, Tagarev said.

The program has already been under development, he added.

This program would analyze the needs and existing capabilities and identify areas where further investment would be required, Tagarev said.

It could be a technology but it could be education, doctrinal documents, procedures, training of people, and all these things would set up a program for the development of cyber defense capabilities, the minister said.

“The program will also define the activities that will be developed within the Defense Ministry, and those for which it would rely on public-private partnership and the Reserve of the Armed Forces,” Tagarev said.

Years ago, Bulgaria has been specialized in information technology within the socialist community and was known as the Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc.