the
regular military establishment. Policemen may be drawn from those
selected annually for compulsory military service. The armed forces'
personnel regulations apply to militiamen acquired from the draft
process or from military schools. Graduates of civilian schools are
employed in the police force to meet its requirements for specialists
who are not trained in the armed forces. These individuals and others
who have had no association with the armed forces retain civilian status
and are subject to the provisions of the labor code and other
regulations applicable to civilian employees.

The militia's personnel strength of 500,000 in 1972 means that about one
person in every forty of the country's population is in, or employed by,
the force. The reason for this high ratio is that the militia
organization has branches at all government levels, from the national
ministry down to the village. Also, its working groups include nearly
all of the country's guard, regulatory, investigative, and paramilitary
organizations, as well as those performing police and firefighting
functions.

Security Troops

Security forces organized at the national level to protect the regime
from subversive activities, whether locally or externally generated,
were created in the late 1940s and are still maintained. The force in
1972 numbered roughly 20,000 men. It is organized along military lines,
and most, if not all, of its men have military rank. It receives its
administrative and logistic support from the Ministry of Internal
Affairs but is supervised by the State Security Council.

According to pronouncements made during anniversary ceremonies held in
August of 1968, during their twenty years of service the security troops
had been a consistently reliable force. Their mission was described as
identifying and apprehending foreign espionage agents and combating
local spies, saboteurs, agitators, and terrorists. It was declared that
the forces operated under the leadership and direct guidance of the
party and governmental leadership and that local security forces were
controlled by the party authorities in districts and cities.

Pronouncements by the leadership about their local subordination
notwithstanding, the security troops, which are the direct descendants
of the old secret police, are still controlled at the national level.
Because of their declining mission in counter-espionage and
counter-subversion, they undoubtedly cooperate w