Velizar Shalamanov

Velizar Mateev Shalamanov (Bulgarian: Велизар Матеев Шаламанов; 24 December 1961 in Karlovo) is a Bulgarian Minister of Defence and deputy director at the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Shalamanov was born in 1961 in Karlovo, Bulgaria. From 1979 to 1984 he was drafted to serve into the Bulgarian Air Force and upon completion of its Academy, received gold medal. He is married to Bonka and have one daughter, Antoniya, who was born in 1988.

Shalamanov obtained master's degree in radio electronics from the National Military University in Dolna Mitropoliya and then got another master's in management and organization of operational and tactical intelligence from Sofia Military Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. While in the military academy, he completer his Ph.D. thesis in the field of command, control, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I) but graduated with a degree in cybernetics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

From 1984 to 1998 Shalamanov served as an army officer, and upon promoting to major, served as a head of the intelligence sector in the general staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces. While a major, he also served as a head of the departments of Military Intelligence Systems and of the New Information and Management Technologies. For two years, Shalamanov served at the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Division of the head quarters of the Bulgarian Land Forces.

From 1998 to 2001, he was a member of NATO Integration Council, and served as its Deputy Minister of Defence, Planning and Integration, responsibility of which position included NATO integration and defence reform passing. In 1999 Velizar Shalamanov was a member of the Security Council of the Government and Head of the Interagency Situation Center whose responsibility was to support Kosovo during their crisis that year. The same year, Shalamanov lead the joint Bulgarian-US-UK Defence Reform and Management Studies as well as development of the military doctrine and Membership Action Plan and Defence Reform at the 1999 Washington summit.

Aside from being an advisor, he also served as assistant director at the Space Research and Technology Institute and a head of C4 Department and Joint Training Simulation and Analysis Center in the Institute of Parallel Processing. He is a member of the NATO Science for Peace and Security, International Advisory Board of DCAF and of European Security and Innovation Forum. As a chairman, he is known to chair the Integrated Emergency Management and critical infrastructure protection panels of the National Civil Protection Scientific Coordination Council. Between 2007 and 2009, Dr. Shalamanov also served as Vice President of the Winbourne and Costas, a United States-based company. In July 2009 he became a director sponsor accountant at the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency and since 2012 works for the NATO Communications and Informatics Agency.

Since 5 August 2014, Velizar Shalamanov serves as Defence Minister under Bliznashki Government.

During an interview with BBC News, Shalamanov warned of "catastrophic consequences" if Bulgaria will continue to be dependent on Russia, following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. That year, Shalamanov suggested that Bulgaria might buy used F-16s from Italy or Greece, or Eurofighters from Portugal, which angered Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin, tweeting that "a certain Shalamanov has convinced Prime |Minister Bliznashki to once again betray Russia... in favour of second-hand eagles." He also criticized 10-15 year delay of the Bulgarian Armed Forces and blamed Russia for it. Shalamanov also pointed out that "the critical area is especially air defence. Because all the radars, all the surface-to-air missile complexes and fighters were produced in the Soviet Union and maintenance, [particularly MiG-29 fighters], depends very much on overhaul of the engines and other equipment in Russia."

As a result, Volen Siderov of the pro-Russian Ataka party, had called Shalamanov "an American agent" after the defence minister had expressed concern over pro-Russian sentiment in Bulgaria.

Velizar Shalamanov is a member of the editorial board of Information & Security: An International Journal and serves on advisory board of George C. Marshall Association.

Velizar Shalamanov is also known for editing various book chapters on defence and NATO, such as Defence Related SME's: Analysis and Description of Current Conditions, Establishing Security and Stability in the Wider Black Sea Area the Countering Terrorist Recruitment in the Context of Armed Counter-Terrorism Operations and the Bulgarian Integration into Europe and NATO.