National Service for ProtectionGovernment

The National Service for Protection (Национална служба за охрана - NSO) is a specialized security service in Bulgaria directly subordinate to the President of the Republic. Its legal mandate is to provide close personal protection and security for state leaders—including the President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the National Assembly—as well as visiting foreign dignitaries and designated state facilities. Tracing its origins to September 12, 1879, when Knyaz Alexander I established the personal escort cavalry guard for the head of state, the service was later known as the Ninth Department of State Security (UBO) during the communist regime before being reconstituted into a depoliticized modern presidential protection service in 1990.