NEW HEAD OF LITHUANIA'S STATE SECURITY DEPARTMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000467 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/20/2017 TAGS: PGOV LH SUBJECT: NEW HEAD OF LITHUANIA'S STATE SECURITY DEPARTMENT REF: VILNIUS 202 Classified By: Acting Pol/Econ Chief Daniel Gage for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY. President Adamkus signelQXbVQw77u candidacy on June 5. END SUMMARY. Bio Note -------------- ¶2. (C) Malakauskas has been a close embassy contact for several years. Since 2004, he has been head of Lithuania,s Special Investigations Service (Lithuanian acronym STT). He is intelligent and has a positive attitude toward the U.S. He was not, however, as effective as we expected in the STT's main task: fighting corruption. Malakaukas 1hd;6%~ e.g., simplifying regulation. ¶3. (U) From 1992 to 2004, Malakauskas worked at the Ministry of Defense, advancing to the vice minister level. He was a member of the Conservative Party from 1988 to 2004, when he had to suspend his membership to become head of STT. In the mid-1990s he studied Defense issues and English in Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. He received a PhD in physics in 1986 from Vilnius University; subsequently working as a researcher. ¶4. (U) Malakauskas was born on October 27, 1955. He speaks English and Russian. He is married to Rima Malakauskiene with whom he has two sons. Malakauskas's marriage to Malakauskiene is his third. He has a grown son from his first marriage. CLOUD