A titkosszolgálatok titoktalanításáról
On Divesting the Secret Services of Secrets

Summary/Abstract: The collapse of communist regimes, from 1989 on, meant the end of a historical epoch for secret services as well. For these earlier East European regimes law enforcement agencies, including secret services, were one of the most significant elements of their political structures. The survival and reformation of secret services was suspiciously observed by the public. The main reason for distrust was their permanent mysteriousness. Certainly, these secret services of socialist Hungary cannot be clearly delineated from the current national security agency of a democratically governed Hungary. These signs of continuity between the two secret service agencies question the reality of the reformation of these agencies. The fact that these services have remained close to centres of political power creates similarities between the roles and attitudes of both pre- and post-transition secret service agencies. Furthermore, the survival of inner regulation and the structures show that this continuation is much larger than simply a continuation of the personnel. It is probable that no regulation of any kind excludes automatically the operation of secret services in the political sphere and influencing it. This is why more value must be given to the formation of a democratic political culture that restricts political power beyond constitutional guarantees and legal regulation. It is the political significance of the secret services that makes them inevitably a subject of research by political science.

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