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releases NATO security policy document
UPDATE
- 11 OCTOBER 2006
In response to a subsequent HCLU request, the Hungarian
National Security Superintendence recently released
an additional, previously secret NATO document entitled
"Directive
on the Security of Information,"
dated 2005. The directive, enacted in support of NATO
Security Policy C-M(2002)49, contains mandatory provisions
related to classification, marking and handling of
sensitive information, and other issues. Requests
for several more related documents remain pending
in Hungary.
22
SEPTEMBER 2006
Hungarian Government Releases NATO Secrecy Policy Document
In
response to a freedom of information request by Adam Foldes
of the Hungarian
Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), the Hungarian security
agency released a policy document, C-M(2002)49
(the "NATO Security Regulation"), which describes
the information security policy followed by the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and applied to its member countries.
The document contains the agreement by which NATO parties
collectively safeguard NATO classified information within
their respective information security regimes and defines
"principles and minimum standards to be applied by
NATO nations and NATO civil and military bodies" to
ensure proper protection of such information.
The
HCLU sought information about the NATO policy after the
Hungarian government in December 2005 proposed a new, highly-restrictive
classified information act and justified the need for the
law in part on the basis of compliance with both NATO and
EU classification standards. The newly-released NATO Security
Regulation came into force on June 17, 2002, superceding
an earlier document entitled CM(55)15(Final). In its response
to the HCLU request, the Hungarian National Security
Superintendence stated that the earlier document could not
be provided because NATO had ordered that all copies of
it be destroyed when the new policy came into effect in
2002. The response letter also states that a 2004 NATO decision
permitted member governments to publish the new Security
Regulation. The document has also been posted on the Web
site of the National Security Superintendence, an independent
body that reports to the Office of the Prime Minister and
handles the protection of classified information from NATO,
the EU, and other international bodies.
The
disclosure was of particular significance because the governments
of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States have
previously refused to release this document and others regarding
NATO information security policies in response to requests
from Alasdair
Roberts of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public
Affairs at Syracuse University. Several other relevant NATO
policy documents, including one covering public information
disclosure, still remain secret.
In
his book, Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information
Age, Alasdair Roberts describes how NATO's imposition
of strict classification standards on member countries has
impeded the progress of open government laws, particularly
in former Soviet bloc countries that have joined the alliance
since the end of the Cold War. For example, in 2002, the
Bulgarian government adopted the Classified Information
Protection Act, closing Soviet-era secret police files that
had been publicly accessible since 1997 and claiming that
it was relying on NATO requirements in implementing the
new, stricter secrecy policy. At that time, NATO would not
release documents describing secrecy requirements imposed
on member governments. (See Roberts, 2006, p. 129-30).
