Internal political protection is an important part of party and political work, aimed at preventing and combating artifices and activities of internal sabotage, making contributions to building pure, strong party organisations and “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong offices and units. Being fully aware of that, the Party Committee and Board of the Military Technical Academy (MTA) have concentrated their leadership and direction on well performing this important work.

Over the years, the MTA’s Party Committee and Board and affiliated party committees and commands have grasped and seriously implemented resolutions, directives, and regulations by the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the Ministry of National Defence on the work of internal political protection in accordance with the Academy’s particularities. As a result, the MTA has proactively prevented and effectively combated hostile forces’ plots and artifices and violations of various types, achieved a positive change in military standard order building and discipline management, and ensured internal political security and safety as the basis for building pure, strong party organisations and “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units. However, there have been weaknesses in grasping and managing troops’ ideology and social relationships due to leadership and management work performed by some units’ party committees and commands.

The MTA Board inspecting Battalion 3’s internal political protection work

To deal with those problems, in the upcoming time, the MTA will continue thoroughly grasping the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress on enhancing the work of internal political protection and proactively preventing and effectively fighting against sabotage activities of hostile and reactionary organisations. Grounded on the Resolution, affiliated offices and units’ party committees and commands shall synchronously implement measures to keep raising the MTA Party Organisation’s leadership capacity and combativeness for the successful fulfilment of all assigned missions, with a focus on the following.

First, concentrate on building a pure, typically strong MTA Party Organisation as the basis for improving the quality and effectiveness of internal political protection work. This measure acts as a determinant to the MTA’s fulfilment of the political task in general and the work of internal political protection in particular. To that end, all-level party committees and organisations shall stringently maintain regulations on Party meetings, while stepping up the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle under the 13th Politburo’s Conclusion 01-KL/TW, dated May 18th, 2021, the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period, the 13th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on building and rectifying the Party and the political system, and regulations on cadres and party members’ responsibility to set good examples. At the same time, due attention should be paid to building politically strong offices, faculties, and units. The building of pure, strong party organisations should be aligned with the building of “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units. Grounded on resolutions, directives, and regulations on the work of internal political protection by the Party, the CMC, the Ministry of National Defence, and the General Political Department, all-level party committees and especially party committee secretaries and members in charge of internal political protection shall grasp and manage the political quality and ideology of their affiliates and inferiors, while proactively proposing contents and measures to perform the work of internal political protection. Consideration should be given to reviewing and supplementing party members’ profiles, assessing the quality of party organisations and members, and executing the 12th Politburo’s Regulations 213-QĐ/TW, dated January 2nd, 2020 on responsibility of party members to maintain relations with party organisations and citizens in their residential areas.

Second, renew political education and ideological management to ensure that cadres, instructors, cadets, employees, and soldiers will remain vigilance against the hostile forces’ plots and artifices, negative practices, and social evils. Offices and units across the MTA shall attach great value to raising the quality of political education and actively renewing programmes and contents of social sciences and humanities, particularly Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology. Simultaneously, they shall maintain regulations on political work, Political and Spiritual Day, Legal Study Day, news briefing, and information about violations of law and discipline within the Military and the MTA. Consideration should be given to strictly executing the Regulations on Democracy at Grass-Roots Level and bettering the effectiveness of democratic dialogues between commanders and their cadres, cadets, employees, and soldiers, enhancing the fight against “peaceful evolution,” “self-evolution,” and “self-transformation,” and promoting the roles of all-level Steering Boards 35 and the core fore in combating wrong, hostile viewpoints to defend the Party’s ideological foundation.

Third, closely manage internal political situation and improve the political quality of units. To do so, the MTA Party Committee will require all-level party committees to review, grasp, and closely manage the political quality of their affiliated organisations, cadres, cadets, employees, and soldiers. Importance should be attached to grasping staff members’ family circumstance, health, ideology, and relationships to proactively prevent, opportunely detect, and completely handle issues in a cautious, objective, and accurate manner. Offices and units across the MTA shall consolidate unity within themselves and closely cooperate with party committees, authorities, and other units in their stationed areas in grasping political security, social order and safety, and especially the hostile forces’ plots and artifices to develop preventive and remedial measures. Mechanisms for coordination between all-level competent offices, party committees, and commands in political and ideological education for cadres, instructors, employees, cadets, and soldiers should be well implemented. The work of internal political protection should be closely combined with inspection, supervision, and investigation work to opportunely prevent, detect, and stringently handle violations by organisations and individuals under regulations. When detecting issues relating to political criteria for its cadres, employees, cadets, and soldiers, the MTA will direct its competent offices to carry out inspections, make correct conclusions, and handle those issues under the Party’s regulations, the State’s laws, and the Military’s discipline to maintain stability and unity within its affiliates. It will continue strictly maintaining regulations on guard and duty, particularly information security to ensure the absolute safety of its exercises, experiments, and scientific and technological application both inside and outside itself.

Fourth, stringently implement regulations on examining, verifying, and concluding political criteria in personnel work as a measure of importance to building a contingent of cadres capable of playing a core role in building an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong MTA. Thus, in the foreseeable future, all-level party committees and organisations shall grasp and strictly execute those regulations in personnel work and the building of a pool of cadres, especially in military university entrance examinations, recruitment of new staff members, deployment of cadres and employees to crucial positions and secret service, and personnel planning and appointment. At the same time, due attention should be paid to maintaining regulations on coordination in using and managing collaborators, contracted workers, and employees within the MTA’s offices and units. Significance should be attached to resolutely avoiding employing persons with insufficient political criteria within offices and units, and proactively preventing foreign offices’ espionage within the MTA, particularly amongst cadres and cadets deployed to other countries for long-term training or complex, sensitive areas.

Fifth, ensure document security, information safety, and cyber security. To that end, great weight should be added to heightening responsibility of cadres, instructors, cadets, employees, and soldiers for managing information and documents and keeping secrets of the State, the Military, and especially information relating to key projects and missions. It is essential to closely manage the exchange of information and the use of the Internet and information technology equipment, and increase vigilance to prevent the hostile forces from collecting information. The MTA will require all staff members not to access or follow social networking sites with bad contents. It will prohibit creating social media accounts with secret contents, images relating to its offices and units, or support for wrong viewpoints and negative articles. Offices and units shall take measures to opportunely detect, prevent, and take down information and images that negatively impact on the Party, the State, the Military, and the MTA on social networks. They shall frequently provide official information to orientate their cadres and soldiers’ ideology against information aimed at damaging the nature, tradition, and prestige of the Military and the MTA.

The work of internal political protection plays a role of importance to the building of pure, strong party organisations, offices, units, and contingent of cadres and party members. Hence, party committees and organisations within the MTA shall focus their leadership on well performing this work to make contributions to building a typically strong, pure MTA Party Organisation and an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong MTA capable of the task of education, training, and scientific research in the new situation.

Sr. Col., Dr NGUYEN MINH THANG, Deputy Commissar of the MTA