were Eastern weapons" and that"they would be replaced by Western weapons", even though among the armoured personnel carriers sent for scrap were also 120 M-113s, produced in the US and donated by Italy for the Albanian Army. On the other hand, the total removal and destruction of combat capabilities were not accompanied by amendment of the Constitution, where the Armed Forces continued to be responsible for preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Albania. They no longer had the necessary armaments and equipment to do so, which proves that the decision was political and not professionally supported. In the“Albanian Security Barometer, National Survey – 2020”, there are interesting findings regarding the public's perception of the government's credibility and institutions for improving the security and defence sector 20 . So for example, when respondents were asked,"how much do you trust the government in improving security?", 54.5% answered that they have trust, while 44.5% answered that they have little or no trust 21 . Almost the same public perception is also found for the Ministry of Defence. Only 57.7% of the respondents answered that they have trust or some trust in the Ministry of Defence, while 41.3% say that they have little or no trust 22 . Despite this, public trust in the Armed Forces is significantly greater, with only 10% of respondents having no trust 23 . “A fundamental failure of the defence reforms undertaken over the past 30 years has been a profound misunderstanding of the concept of'democratic control of the armed forces.' This principle continues to be equated simply with civilian control, but limited to the government executive bodies and is not further expanded to include the role of the Parliament and independent oversight institutions and civil society.” 24 More specifically, the applied model has resulted in 1) an incorrect perception and implementation of democratic control over the Armed Forces, leading to inefficient use of the defence budget 25 ; 2) mismanagement of assets and properties of the Armed Forces; 3) ineffective handling of human resources has led to the loss of a considerable number of officers and to challenges in attracting new candidates; 4) 20 “Albanian Security Barometer, National Survey – 2020”, Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance, 2020, pg. 82-85. https://csdgalbania.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Security_barometer_2020_ENGLISH­WEB.pdf. 21 Ibid. pg. 65. 22 Ibid. pg. 66. 23 Ibid. pg. 61. 24 Alban Dafa,“Kontrolli(jo) demokratik i Forcave të Armatosura të Shqipërisë Qendërsim i politikës së mbrojtjes dhe mbikëqyrje e paefektshme“, Instituti per Demokraci dhe Ndermjetesim, pg. 43, Tirane 2021. 25 “…The Minister of Defense then proposes these plans for adoption by the Parliament. However, the implementation of these programs and plans is problematic and resembles the movement of traffic on the streets of Tirana, where most of the drivers do not follow the rules. More specifically, if the‘drivers’ of institutions do not feel that they will be caught for breaking the rules, they are less likely to have any respect for the law". Tobias Pietz, Marc Remillard, Defense Reform and Transformation in Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, Bonn International Center for Conversion, brief 34, Bonn 2006, pg. 14. DEMOCRATIC CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN THE ARMED FORCES | 9