Brigadier Janis Kazocins OBE (Latvian: Jānis Kažociņš; born 11 May 1951, Peterborough, United Kingdom) is a former British Army officer and Latvian intelligence agency director.
In 1972 Kazocins received a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the University of Nottingham.[1] In 1973 he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and joined the Royal Artillery.[2]
Kazocins served in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. He participated in the planning of Operation Granby, the British component of the 1991 Gulf War. Kazocins was made an officer of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire in 1991; at the time he was a Lieutenant Colonel.[2]
Between 1994 and 1995 Kazocins was based in Riga, as the first British military attaché to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.[1] Kazocins was seconded to the Latvian National Armed Forces[3] from 1995 to 1997 and retired from the British Army in 2002.[1]
Kazocins became a Latvian citizen in 2003.[4] From 2003 to May 2013 Kazocins was director of the Satversmes aizsardzības birojs (SAB; the Constitution Protection Bureau), Latvia's external intelligence service.[1] In 2013 he was awarded Latvia's Cross of Recognition.[5]
From June 2013 Kazocins was an adviser to Defense Minister Artis Pabriks on international security and information technology.[6]
In December 2013 Kazocins was appointed to lead the Public Commission for the assessment of the Zolitūde shopping centre roof collapse,[7] but on December 18 resigned from the Commission.[8]
References edit
- ^ a b c d "Tieslietu ministrija > Jānis Kažociņš". Tieslietu ministrija (Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia). Archived from the original on 25 March 2005.
- ^ a b "Supplement to the London Gazette" (PDF). 29 June 1991. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
- ^ Ashbourne, Alexandra (1 January 1999). Lithuania: The Rebirth of a Nation, 1991-1994. Lexington Books. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-7391-0027-1 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Par Jāņa Kažociņa atzīšanu par Latvijas pilsoni (Janis Kazocins recognized as Latvian citizen)". Likumi.lv. 3 April 2003.
- ^ "Среди новых кавалеров госнаград — Кажоциньш, Гегерис, Добровенский (Among the new Knights of state awards - Kazocins, Gegeris, Dobrovensky)". Delfi. 11 April 2013.
- ^ "Экс-глава БЗС Кажоциньш стал внештатным советником министра обороны (The former head of CPB Kazocins became a freelance adviser to the defense minister)". Delfi. 18 June 2013.
- ^ "Общественную комиссию по Золитуде возглавил Кажоциньш (Public Commission on Zolitūde headed by Kazocins)". Delfi. 10 December 2013.
- ^ "Кажоциньш отказался от поста главы Общественной комиссии (Kazocins gives up post as head of the Public Commission)". Delfi. 18 December 2013.
Sources edit
- "Warriors of the three armies", Latvian Television, 90 mins.
External links edit
- "The Latvian James Bond". "Chas" newspaper, 21 July 2006
- Interview with Janis Kazocins newspaper «Latvijas avīze», 2010
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