by Mr. Roderick Moore, Charge d'Affairs, US Embassy

I applaud this conference's focus on corruption in the security forces. There is no more perfidious form of corruption than among officials in whom, by the very nature of their jobs, the public must vest the greatest trust. These are the people who patrol our streets, keep our families safe, protect our borders, raise our revenues, guard our secrets, and defend our countries.

This problem is not unique to Bulgaria, or even this region. However, because I live and work in this country, my comments and observations will be largely focused on the issued faced by Bulgaria.

I would commend the Bulgarian government for its initiative efforts to tackle corruption, which Prime Minister emphasized again just two days ago is a high priority for Bulgaria. Indeed, the participation of GOB officials in this conference is a positive signal of the seriousness with which the Government takes this issue.

Moreover, over the past months, organizations such as CSD, the Marshall Center and others have done a tremendous job of raisin public awareness on corruption. As with alcoholism or other illnesses, acknowledging the disease is an important step toward the cure.

However, for new democracies undergoing complex societal transitions, merely acknowledging the existence of corruption is insufficient in and of itself. The judiciaries of these countries must protect their adolescent democracies by taking forceful step to identify, prosecute, convict, and imprison corruption officials - greedy and dishonest people whose actions corrode public confidence in your key institutions,. Unless checked, continued rampant corruption will jeopardize democratic reforms and undermine social stability in this region.

In Bulgaria, it is our view that the judiciary to date has not seriously attacked corruption in its public institutions, including the security services. In my eighteen months in Bulgaria, I am not aware of a single, prominent corruption case that has ended in a prison term for a Bulgarian government employed - a highly surprising fact, given the public's belief in widespread corruption Bulgarian Customs service, police and many ministries. This high level for "white collar" crime is highly damaging to your economy, your democratic system, and to your international reputation.

No country, including my own, has a perfect - or even adequate - record in this area. The very fact that dozes of American films depicting crooked policemen, bribe-taking politicians, or errant spies have appeared in recent years reflects weaknesses in our own society and institutions. Moreover, there is a growing body of evidence that the growth of the narcotics trade, which entails transfers of enormous amounts of money and the temptations that go with it, has led to increased malfeasance among government officials in all the countries touched by this scourge.

That said, in my country, our society does not tolerate public corruption - particularly in the security services and among politicians - and our judicial system punishes it severely when it is uncovered. Punishing corruption is, after all, one of the strongest deterrents to corruption. By its very essence, the rule of law demands that a society be able to punish those who transgress its law.

Let me cite a few statistics. During the 1990's , 13, 069 public officials in the U.S. were indicted for corruption on federal charges, and 11, 527 were convicted (about half of them federal officials) - that's an 88,2% rate of conviction. And this figure only includes individuals prosecuted for federal crimes; it does not include the many prosecutions carried out by state or local courts throughout the fifty United States or the many thousands of administrative penalties meted our be government agencies against their employees.

I firmly believe that this measure of commitment by our government and judiciary to public integrity has greatly strengthened our own democracy. One important indicator is the degree of public confidence in governmental institutes. According to several recent polls , public confidence in local police forces in the U.S., for example, ranged between 80-97%. In Bulgarian, by contrast, several studies indicated much lower levels - approximately 30% of public confidence in the police. Indeed, according to one survey, 54% of Bulgarians believed that most police are corrupt, and 77% believed that most Customs agents were on the take.

Prosecution and imprisonment of corruption officials is, and should be, the last resort, of course. And while respect for the rule of law - and fear of the consequences if you break the law - are perhaps some of the strongest deterrents, our experience demonstrates there are other measures that can be taken to limit or prevent corruption in the security services. These measures, some of which are already employed in Bulgaria, include pre- and post-employment background checks; developing codes of ethics and establishing offices to enforce them; creating powerful and intrusive offices of internal affairs or inspectorates general; strengthening parliamentary oversight of security agencies; conducting regular inspections of government agencies; holding supervisors accountable for poor oversight or management; establishing public hotlines for the reporting of waste, fraud, or mismanagement; or even using special prosecutors to avoid conflicts of interest. I am certain that this conference will review these and other preventive measures.

There has been much talk in Bulgaria about judicial reform as a necessary step towards curbing corruption. While reforms that will strengthen your institutions' ability to root out corruption may indeed be desirable (and we are ready to support such reforms), they will take time. In the meantime, calls for reform should not be an excuse for inaction of procrastination. There is no legal reason why the country's existing laws and judicial system cannot be employed more effectively to sanction dishonest, law-breaking officials in the police, customs, military, or other government bodies.

The U.S. spends millions of dollars per year in Bulgaria to assist in the fight against corruption - working for example with CSD, your Customs Service, the National Audit Office, and the anti-corruption task force.

We want to continue to work with you in the battle against corruption and fraud in your institutions. This is not mere altruism, it is in our interest as well to support Bulgaria's democratic institutions. A Bulgaria with strong institutions is more stable and prosperous Bulgaria and a more attractive place for Americans to invest and do business - a major goal of the U.S. in this region.

But all the ink and money the U.S., EU, or other donors can expend on combating corruption and serious crime in Bulgaria will amount to little without courage and cooperation in the part of honest Bulgarian leaders, judges, prosecutors and security officials. Moreover, I would stress that police and other security officials are themselves the best guarantors of the integrity of their colleagues, as they have the greatest interest in protecting the honor of their professions.

In the end, the manner in which Bulgaria addressed the issue of corruption over the next several months will be an important yardstick for the international community as it weighs Bulgaria's candidacy for membershi0 in NATO and other Euroatlantic institutions.