Neither the US nor the NATO ambassador of any other ally protested at Laborc's nomination, Hungary's NATO ambassador Zoltan Martinusz told HVG.

The diplomat denied that any NATO ambassador had protested in any way at Laborc's nomination. Martinusz emphasised that there was no legal means by which a NATO ally could complain about another member's appointments to its security services. If a state did nonetheless have concerns, he said, it would make them known bilaterally, he said.

Hungary's NATO ambassador dismissed as fabrications press reports that Laborc's CV had been sent to NATO - member states had no such obligation, he said.

The dailies Magyar Nemzet and Magyar Hirlap reported earlier that the US's NATO ambassador had informed our NATO ambassador that they considered a graduate of the KGB academy an unacceptable head for the security services of an ally. The US also complained that the version of Laborc's CV received by a NATO special committee did not refer to Laborc's studies in Moscow and did not give the name of the college in question.

Hvg.hu has learned that is is quite possible that US security services objected to Laborc's imminent appointment. It is the first time since the regime change that such a high position has been entrusted to somebody who not only studied in the Soviet Union, but who studied at the KGB college - something that clearly poses a heightened security risk.

Furthermore, Hungary will be chairing NATO's special committee in 2008, which deals with member states' counter-espionage activities. It is hardly elegant for a man with such a questionable past to head NATO's most important secret security organ so many years after the regime change, said one diplomatic source. If Budapest has not yet received a cautious warning from one of its allies, it is unlikely to get away much longer without having to do some awkward explaining.

László  Vida (Brussels)