Contradictory trends in the implementation of the Russian Federation Law On State Secrets.
Contradictory trends
in the implementation of the Russian Federation Law
«On State Secrets»
What is an «object» of a state secret?
In modern Russian business, recently they have been talking mainly about commercial secrets, which are completely different from state secrets. Their levels of protection are also different.
Some specialists are familiar with the functions of the «first» (secret) departments. These units, with the participation of the FSB and FAPSI, ensure the transfer of business and scientific-technical documents or products with various secrecy classifications from one production structure to another and their use by responsible executors to solve specific information-management and production tasks. The reasonable presence of secrets in various spheres of management, economics, production and science is a positive phenomenon, meets civilized world practice and in the near future should acquire special significance. In this case, we mean the new Russian scientific-technical and industrial policy, the new realities of Russia's political development.
The object of state secrets in the Russian Federation is very ambiguous and closely related to the understanding of the country's problems in the field of ensuring national security. Today, many areas of the Russian economy and production are classified. The phenomenon of «state secrets» in Russia is especially acute in relation to the sphere of science and technology. Of course, science and technology are only part of our multi-sector economy. But the significance of this sphere in terms of coverage and specific weight of objects of state secrets is very high. Moreover, these are the most complex objects in their structure, which largely predetermine our future. Much is classified in Russia from the events of its historical past and related not only to the history of the USSR.
What is considered a state secret under current Russian legislation?
The RF Law «On State Secrets» itself provides only general information, which we will provide below. The objects of classification are defined more systematically in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of January 24, 1998 No. 61 «On the list of information classified as a state secret». Here, not only are specific objects of classification provided, but the possibility of further deepening and detailing «their» lists of information within certain ministries and departments of the Russian Federation is established. Clause 1 of this «List» notes: «Each of the state bodies specified in this list is vested with the authority to dispose of information of industry (departmental) affiliation within the framework of its competence, determined by the regulation on a specific state body, as well as information of other owners of information corresponding to the thematic focus of their submission. In total, the «List» contains 87 control positions. As a rule, several ministries and departments of the Russian Federation are assigned to each position.
As an example, let us cite position No. 80. This is: «Information disclosing the forces, means, methods, plans, status or results of intelligence, counterintelligence or operational-investigative activities, as well as data on the financing of these activities, if the data disclose the listed information. Information on individuals cooperating or having cooperated on a confidential basis with agencies carrying out counterintelligence or operational-investigative activities, on employees of the FSB of Russia performing (having performed) special assignments in special services and organizations of foreign states, in criminal groups. Information disclosing the affiliation of specific individuals to the personnel of counterintelligence agencies of the Russian Federation. Information disclosing the status, results, and measures of operational-investigative work.» In terms of its substantive volume, this is one of the largest positions.
The following are simultaneously responsible for its implementation: the Ministry of Defense, the FSB, the FSO, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Fire Service, the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information, and the Federal Tax Service of Russia.
Let's try to present the data from the above-mentioned «List» in tabular form (the table was compiled by the author).
It is obvious that the «champion» of Russia in state secrets is the Ministry of Defense. Next, let us compare the secrecy of such ministries as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB of Russia. Oddly enough, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation has many more state secrets than the FSB of the Russian Federation. The table also shows that the greatest number of state secrets are created in the field of science and technology. Science and technology determine the future competitiveness of the country and are very changeable in themselves. The role of science and technology is especially great in ensuring the national security of the country. As can be seen from the table, «financial secrecy» is also significant, but it is not quite adequately reflected in the context of «information areas». Thus, hardly anyone will believe that today the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has no significant secrets in the sphere of military activity and so few of them in the field of foreign economics. This also raises «its own» (possibly political) questions.
Within the framework of industry, departmental or program-targeted (including major scientific and technical programs and projects) on the basis of general norms of the law of the Russian Federation «On State Secrets», «own» lists are developed. The practice of using additional, more detailed, departmental lists, which was established in the former USSR, is necessary for regulating the activities of a number of separate economic structures and the daily activities of their specialists. In some cases, some technical or technological parameters, little-used statistical indicators, etc. may be secret.
In general, our analysis shows that with the definition of the object of a state secret, not everything is simple. In some ways, there is an incompleteness in the definition of a Russian state secret.
Upon careful analysis of the «List» according to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, our reader cannot help but conclude that it is excessively «militarized». Thus, the key concepts of the document already include: «special objects», «military objects», «regime objects», «enterprises and organizations», «troops», «weapons», «military equipment», «defense industry facilities», «weapons of mass destruction». It can be assumed that the developers of this Decree of the President of the Russian Federation worked or served in one of the departments close to the FSB of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. And it is in this regard that many aspects of the activities of the modern state, its highly effective industrial and food policy based on the widespread use of the latest achievements of science and technology were underestimated by them. Meanwhile, many «civil» affairs of the state (for example, in the field of scientific and technical policy, investment competitions, regulation of the securities market, structural restructuring of the economy, etc.) today are no less secret than military affairs. The situation is extremely poor in the area of »financial secrecy» in the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Is it not on this basis that the well-known «leaks» of important financial and credit information allowed a number of individuals and structures to make fabulous fortunes in a short period of time?
There is a great deal of secrecy in the area of research and development, for example, in the creation of chemical technologies and new materials. What are the assessments of Russian scientists themselves today about the degree of secrecy in fundamental and applied science? Of great interest in this regard are the recent confessions of authoritative Russian chemists I.V. Melikhov (Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences) and Yu.D. Tretyakov (Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences). In their joint publication «At the Last Line» (NG-Science, No. 4, April 1999, p. 3), these authors note: «If the phenomenon being studied promises significant commercial benefits, then new knowledge about it is classified and is preserved for some time by states and firms as national property. According to our estimates, 50 to 80% of the information accumulated by fundamental science becomes secret. Applied science, which studies processes in specific industries, does the same. But here 90-95% of new information becomes secret, and «the secret becomes clear» after a longer period of time. Each country has its own stock of knowledge, of which only a small part becomes common.
All this once again shows that Russia will not be able to draw the required knowledge only from foreign scientific and technical periodicals, but must maintain its own science. It is science that is capable of bringing manufacturers to the market of competitive products.
But in some cases, classification is carried out outside the military-industrial complex. In the modern «civil» economy of Russia there are also many secrets. Thus, according to the Law of January 24, 1998, No. 61, «state secrets» include, for example, information «revealing water supply schemes for cities with a population of more than 500 thousand people, railway junctions and (or) the location of the head structures of the water supply and water main feeding them». It follows from this that our «Mosvodokanal» is not some simple, but a very «secret» company.
According to the law «On State Secrets» (Article 5), in the civil sphere, the following data are secret, first of all:
1) on the volumes of production, deliveries, stocks of strategic types of raw materials and materials, as well as on the placement, actual sizes and use of state material reserves;
2) on the achievements of science and technology, on research and development, on experimental design, on design work and technologies that have important defense or economic significance, affecting the security of the state;
3) on the volumes of reserves, production, transfer and consumption of platinum, platinum group metals, natural diamonds, as well as on the volumes of other strategic types of minerals (according to the list of the Government of the Russian Federation);
4) on the foreign policy and foreign economic activities of the Russian Federation, the premature dissemination of which may damage the security of the state;
5) on financial policy in relation to foreign states (with the exception of generalized indicators on foreign debt), as well as on financial or monetary activities, the premature dissemination of which may damage the security of the state.
Now about what should not be classified in the Russian Federation. Let's turn to Article 7 of the Law «On State Secrets». This information: 1) on disasters, natural disasters and their consequences; 2) on the state of the environment, health care, sanitation, demography, education, culture, agriculture, as well as crime; 3) on privileges, compensations and benefits for individuals and legal entities; 4) on facts of violation of human rights and freedoms; 5) on the size of the gold reserves and state currency reserves of the country; 6) on the health of senior officials of the Russian Federation; 7) on facts of violation of the law by government bodies and their officials.
It must be said frankly that the implementation of Article 7 in any society or state is not a simple matter. If the implementation of the safety of «state secrets» is not an easy task, then the FSB of the Russian Federation and the Prosecutor's Office are called upon to monitor, then only the «fourth estate» of society, that is, the mass media, the press, television, and radio broadcasting, really fights to ensure the required transparency under Article 7. Those responsible for disasters or corrupt officials, on the contrary, are inclined to a specific «classification». Fortunately, we live in a society where there is no political monopolization yet, and in the struggle between politically and economically influential groups, a very good tool is «kompromat». Sometimes this «kompromat» is published in authoritative foreign publications.