The Agency's contribution towards the Homeland War and defending against aggression is immeasurable and almost impossible to describe in terms of quantity.
During the 90s and the Homeland War, the Republic of Croatia was bombarded by foreign intelligence agents, foremost by the associates of the former State Security Agency (SDS) and the Counterintelligence Agency (KOS), of the so-called JNA (Yugoslavian People's Army).
Upon the establishment of the Parliament of the Republic of Croatia on May 30, 1990, the State Security Agency of the Republic Secretariat for Internal Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Croatia (SDS RSUP SRH) was run by the deputy of the Republic Secretariat. During and following elections, its primary task, within its scope of activities, was to ensure unhindered campaign activities and a peaceful transfer of power. All of this took place along with the knowledge that a network of associates from the Yugoslavian secret services was organised within nearly every institution and region in the former state.
Even then, the Agency possessed data regarding the intelligence-subversive operations of the security agencies of the so-called JNA and Serbia in the organised support of the activities of radical Serb elements within the Republic of Croatia.
The later period was characterised by openly supporting equipping, arming and directly controlling the ''log revolution'', and later the open aggression of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) against the Republic of Croatia. The so-called JNA stood on the side of the Serbs directly, thus openly involving itself in the aggression against the Republic of Croatia, the Agency, like other state administrative bodies, went through a difficult period at that time and a certain number of its employees did not accept social-political changes and left the Agency. Aware that aggression was being prepared against the Republic of Croatia, an attempt was made to maintain and prepare a healthy core of the Agency for the period which was to follow.
In the meantime, within the framework of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia, in April, 1991, the Agency for the Protection of Constitutional Order began operating and employing and training new employees. Beginning in 1992, basic training of the new staff in the from of several month-long courses was organized and continually conducted. Along with this, the Agency solved and processed the most complex tasks and with the beginning of open aggression towards the Republic of Croatia, actively defied armed aggression and gave its contribution towards defending the sovereignty of the Republic of Croatia.
Due to the intensified security and intelligence apparatus of Serbia and the so-called JNA in its subversive activities towards the Republic of Croatia, the basic task of SZUP was to track, document and prevent such activities. At the same time, it strove towards studying the intentions and moves of its opponent within the territory that had been temporarily occupied by then and also to prevent intelligence operations towards our surroundings.
Through the operative work of the Agency, Agency employees were detected who were ''snuck in'' by SDS and KOS in Belgrade and who worked in their interests (operation ''Labrador'') and the Agency also successfully gathered data on all paramilitary, police and security elements as well as the political and economical situation within the occupied territory. The success of the work was seen in the stabilization of the situation in the battlefield.
Within the same period, the Agency also identified, tracked, gathered data and in the end, in cooperation with other bodies, discovered the perpetrators of several diversionist-terrorist actions conducted within the territory of the Republic of Croatia. Such actions include attacks by active members of security agencies of the so-called JNA and their associates on the Serbian Orthodox Community in Zagreb, the Jewish graveyard and Jewish Community in Zagreb as well as the Serbian Orthodox Church Museum in Zagreb.
Since the territory of the Republic of Croatia, as well as the wider region under war, was a subject of interest to foreign intelligence agencies, SZUP actively worked on gathering and documenting their intelligence activities. Within this period, in order to gather as much required data as possible for defending the Republic of Croatia, the Agency intensively began its intelligence activities in order to gather data on military and mobilization plans, armament, and the opponent's equipment and communications.
After signing the Sarajevo Treaty Jan. 4, 1992, stabilizing the line of defense and the arrival of UNPROFOR, it was clear that the Serbian aggressor had not succeeded in its intent to break Croatian defenses and the state. At that time, the Agency gradually began to shift from war conditions and assignments towards peace-time operations although the emphasis was still on defending against aggression as well as preparing liberating operations of the Croatian Armed Forces in 1994 and 1995.
In the meantime, along with the Office for National Security, the Croatian and Intelligence Agency (HIS) was formed with the function of an analytical umbrella agency, with the tasks of conducting intelligence work consisting of gathering data outside of the territory of the Republic of Croatia as well as cooperating with foreign security-intelligence agency partners.
With the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a large number of offices (representations) of various humanitarian and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Islamic and Arab states were formed in the territory of the Republic of Croatia.
Under the pretence of humanitarian aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina they worked on obtaining equipment and arms as well as foreign soldiers in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Islamic states (mujaheddin), which also required the Agency to intensify its work.
In this period, significant penetrations towards the opponent’s structures were achieved and the Agency thus controlled that area, in an intelligence sense, and had knowledge of what was happening and being planned within the temporarily occupied territory.
Thus the Agency had a remarkable role in all significant liberating operations of the Homeland War – from liberating the Dubrovnik coastal region, Maslenica, Bljesak (Flash) and Oluja (Storm) to the process of peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region (Podunavlje).
In this period, Agency employees worked under extremely difficult conditions and were exposed to life-threatening situations but were ready to give their lives for their Homeland at any moment.
I am not looking for trouble or danger,but when the Homeland is threatened
and the happiness of the Croatian people
there is no sacrifice or peril too great
for me not to answer the call of duty
the more successful in this endeavor I am, the more content I am
regardless of consequences which may befall my own fate.
Ante Starčević