International academies
The International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Budapest is committed to providing regional criminal justice training to improve legislation and law enforcement in participant countries. ILEA Budapest is funded and supported by the US Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and by Hungary.
In 1994, the United States and Hungarian governments agreed to establish a regional training academy in Hungary to professionally advance the criminal justice community. The ILEA opened in Budapest in April, 1995 to support the criminal justice sector development in this region. Since its founding more than 24,000 participants took part on trainings from countries throughout Central/Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and North Africa have trained at ILEA Budapest.
ILEA Budapest is headed by two U.S. accredited diplomats who fall under U.S. Embassy Budapest Chief of Mission Authority and act as Director and Deputy Director.
Thirteen federal law enforcement agencies participate in the ILEA program, and metropolitan police departments are sourced for their areas of expertise. Participating agencies include DSS, DEA, ATF, FBI, ICE, FLETC, DOI, IRS-CI, among others.
Instructors and active agents teach courses on subjects such as cyber-crime, physical security for installations, transnational investigations, post-blast investigations, countering wildlife trafficking, anticorruption, illicit drug trafficking, money laundering and financial crimes, terrorism and human trafficking.
The necessary conditions for the operation of ILEA are provided by the International Training Center (NOK) under the jurisdiction of the Hungarian National Police. The Director of NOK and the Director of ILEA cooperate on the basis of the Agreement between the Government of Hungary and the Government of the United States of America on the Establishment of the International Law Enforcement Academy.
ILEA is divided into an American and a Hungarian Secretariat. The staff of the Hungarian Secretariat is an organizational unit with the status of a department within the framework of the NOK. The staff of the American Secretariat is drawn from the staff of the US Embassy in Budapest. The American director manages the daily activities of both secretariats at a professional level.
The Director of the NOK exercises the employer's authority over the ILEA Hungarian Secretariat, which operates under the NOK, and cooperates with the ILEA American Secretariat. He maintains daily contact and cooperates with the ILEA American Director in order to fulfill the obligations assumed in the Agreement.
The Hungarian Secretariat has a staff of 12 Police officers and law enforcement administrative employees carry out daily tasks.