Practical implementation of the law On state secrets.
PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW
«ON STATE SECRETS»
A.A. Grigoriev
The Law «On State Secrets» provides for a fundamentally new approach to the procedure for issuing clearance to state secrets to enterprises, institutions and organizations. This procedure consists of two elements:
•mandatory state licensing of the activities of enterprises, institutions and organizations that use information constituting a state secret in their work;
• state certification of managers responsible for the protection of information constituting a state secret.
These elements in the system of protection of information constituting a state secret, in our opinion, are of key importance.
Licensing procedure
The licensing procedure is established by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of April 15, 1995 No. 333 «On licensing the activities of enterprises, institutions and organizations in carrying out work related to the use of information constituting a state secret, the creation of means of information protection, as well as the implementation and (or) provision of services for the protection of state secrets».
Licensing of this type of activity provides for a comprehensive assessment of the state secret protection system in effect at the license applicant's facility.
The main volume of information, which is used to analyze the state of the protection system and assess compliance with regulatory documents, is identified during a special examination. In addition, a special examination provides interested heads of enterprises, organizations and institutions with the opportunity to analyze the current system for protecting state secrets in a short time, to study the ability of this system to adequately respond to changes in external and internal conditions in which work is carried out with classified information. The advantages of the analyzed system, as well as its shortcomings and deviations from the requirements of the current legislative framework, identified during the special examination are communicated to the head of the enterprise in a concentrated form. As a rule, most of the identified shortcomings are eliminated directly during the special examination. This indicates the ability of the state secret protection system formed at the facility to quickly and correctly respond to external influences.
Certification of enterprise managers
Another key element in the system of protecting state secrets is the state certification of enterprise managers. The procedure for conducting it is established by the above-mentioned Government Resolution of April 15, 1995, No. 333, and the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Protection of State Secrets of March 13, 1996, No. 3 (as amended and supplemented on October 21, 1998, No. 41).
A mandatory condition for conducting certification is that the person being certified has a clearance to state secrets issued in the established manner.
The previously existing procedure for granting officials access to state secrets in a number of cases only required the presence of a document (order, instruction, etc.) on appointment to a position, the so-called clearance «according to the regulations». Such personal qualities as the willingness and ability to organize and ensure in practice the fulfillment of established requirements for the protection of state secrets when appointing to a managerial position were, as a rule, not taken into account.
The Law «On State Secrets» and the Instruction on the Procedure for Granting Officials and Citizens of the Russian Federation Access to State Secrets, approved by Government Resolution No. 1050 of October 28, 1995, abolish the simplified procedure for admission. The current legislation stipulates that heads of enterprises, organizations, and institutions are granted access to classified information after security agencies have conducted verification activities, as well as after they have signed a contract for obtaining access to state secrets. In addition, the manager's knowledge of current legislation and practical skills in organizing the protection of state secrets at the facility entrusted to him/her must be confirmed during certification.
Thus, the procedure for granting access to state secrets to enterprises through licensing their activities and state certification of managers, as laid down in the law, allows us to bring the protection of state interests at the local level to a new qualitative level that meets modern requirements.
Creation of the Regional Certification Center
The beginning of practical actions to apply the provisions of the law «On State Secrets» by the FSB Directorate of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region was the creation of the Regional Certification Center for Special Expertise. In December 1995, the center was formed on the basis of the State Unitary Enterprise (GIP) «Special Agency «Omega».
The FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, together with the Regional Certification Center, under the methodological guidance of the FSB Center for Licensing, Certification, and Protection of State Secrets, developed and put into effect a number of regulatory and methodological documents specifying the licensing procedure and interaction between participants in the process, as well as determining the methodology for conducting a special examination and a system for monitoring the passage of applicants' documents.
At the same time, the problem of training qualified specialists — experts — was being solved. The first expert commissions were mainly staffed with representatives of the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the Government Communications and Information Directorate for the Northern Region of FAPSI, the special center of the State Technical Commission of Russia and full-time employees of the State Unitary Enterprise «Special Agency «Omega». In parallel, a team of experts was being formed, primarily by specialists from departments for the protection of state secrets and PD TR enterprises of the defense industry. Currently, a team of highly qualified experts numbering more than one hundred people operates as part of the Regional Certification Center.
Educational and methodological work
In developing the technological process of licensing and solving the problem of personnel training, the FSB Directorate of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and the Regional Certification Center sought to achieve a uniform understanding of the requirements of legislative and regulatory documents applicable to any facility, regardless of its departmental affiliation, and at the same time to minimize the subjectivity of assessments during special examinations and processing of results.
The region launched educational and methodological activities in the field of protecting state secrets. A consultation center was opened at the licensing department of the FSB Directorate of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. Educational institutions of St. Petersburg, determined by the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Protection of State Secrets of March 13, 1996, No. 3, organized additional specialized training in information security. However, there was an acute need for methodological literature that would clearly set out the organization and procedure for licensing, the composition and rules for drawing up documents, the procedure for their submission, typical deficiencies identified during licensing, and practical recommendations for preparing for licensing.
The stated goal was basically achieved by the end of 1996. The results of joint activities during that period of time are reflected in a number of normative and methodological collections, including the collection «Licensing of the activities of enterprises for the right to carry out work and provide services in the field of using and protecting state secrets». In early 1999, a new edition of the collection was prepared. All publications are published with the direct participation of the FSB Center for Licensing, Certification and Protection of State Secrets.
In early 1998, a joint decision was made by the FSB Center for Licensing, Certification, and Protection of State Secrets, the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and the Regional Certification Center to develop and implement a unified technological licensing cycle. This decision is aimed at reducing the time it takes to review applications from license applicants, generalizing and disseminating positive experience in protecting state secrets accumulated in the region, and increasing the level and effectiveness of work carried out in the area of protecting state secrets.
New areas of activity
An undoubted positive moment is the formation of some new areas in joint activities. For example, enterprises that are starting work requiring a secrecy regime for the first time can use the services of the Regional Certification Center when forming their own divisions for the protection of state secrets and PD TR. The Center helps to establish interaction with organizations that have the right to provide services in this area. Enterprises that already have licenses or are applying for licenses are offered services for the analysis and improvement of existing systems for the protection of state secrets.
The Regional Certification Center, under the supervision of the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, conducts research into the conditions for working with state secrets and protecting them. The Center provides recommendations on bringing the said conditions into line with the requirements of guidelines and regulatory documents. The development of recommendations is preceded by an analysis and early identification of possible ways to violate the integrity of the state secret protection system. An assessment of the associated risks and the selection of the required level and model of protection. The Center carries out the practical implementation and introduction of selective methods and means for achieving the set goals. As a result, customers receive at their disposal a state secret protection system that complies with current legislation, which is confirmed by positive results in the process of licensing their activities.
It should be noted that in general, the heads of enterprises, institutions and organizations in the region show due interest and a businesslike approach to this problem. Almost all heads of enterprises that applied for licensing have undergone appropriate short-term training. Despite the difficult situation, they see the expediency and find opportunities to invest considerable funds in the formation and improvement of state secret protection systems. Ultimately, many of them come to the fair conclusion that, by competently and correctly borrowing methods and techniques from the sphere of state secret protection, it is possible to create a system for protecting all restricted information available to the enterprise, and only such an interconnected system, comprehensively taking into account all categories of restricted information, will be effective.
As part of monitoring compliance with licensing conditions by licensees, the FSB Directorate of the Russian Federation for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region conducts control checks with the involvement of experts from the Regional Certification Center. These checks are an effective preventive measure against offenses in the sphere of handling state secrets. In addition, control checks allow monitoring the effectiveness of the created licensing mechanism in the territory of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.
Thus, using in practice the system of mandatory state licensing of the activities of enterprises, institutions and organizations and conducting state certification of their managers in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation «On the Protection of State Secrets» in the region, it was possible to generally increase the level of protection of state secrets.