How to Consolidate the Secret Services in East-Europe after the Transition. In: National, regional or state security issues?

Révész, Béla (2007) How to Consolidate the Secret Services in East-Europe after the Transition. In: National, regional or state security issues? REGIO: KISEBBSÉG KULTÚRA POLITIKA TÁRSADALOM, 10 (10). pp. 106-116. ISSN 0865-557X

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Abstract

Generally, democratic control over secret service organizations is a delicate issue. Control commissions must keep silent, even regarding the participants’ own political parties; on the other hand, how can a commission make sure that it has received access to all relevant information from the services? This tension has a principal a priori character, inasmuch as total public control of such organizations would severely limit or even reduce their possibilities to act – it is a given that such organizations must, for the sake of efficiency, be given a certain margin in which to operate, both as regards secrecy and violation of law for the sake of security – even if this fact makes the organizations constantly vulnerable to potential public scandals. In a secret organization, the very secrecy principle has an ambiguous character which adds to its mystification. The basic motivation for secrecy is immanently given: the enemy must not know what we know. But to this, a procedural secrecy is quickly added: the enemy must not know the illegal procedures undertaken in order to gain information, etc. – this becomes a potential cause of conflict in itself. Furthermore, this problem doubles once more internally in democratic societies: the public must not know (too much) about the types of methods used because this may illegitimate democracy’s own laws and ideals. These constraints have led to a violent growth in the use of the three classic grades of secrecy: confidential, secret, and top secret. Too much secrecy does not only entail that the organization may loose a grasp on its own information, but furthermore, it also may lead to the widespread misunderstanding that just because something is marked Top Secret it is eo ipso true.

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