A contribution to the debate on the reform of Czech intelligence services

In: Obrana a strategie: Defence & strategy, Band 9, Heft 2, S. 107-112

Abstract

The article is the output of a project, the goal of which was to reopen an expert debate on intelligence services and the intelligence system in the Czech Republic and to bring, in the form of a "policy paper", possible recommendations for further steps. Based on the sensitivity of the topic, the project leaders did not attempt to achieve a single ideal proposal, rather to provide a synthesis of often contradicting standpoints that had taken place in the discussion on the reform. The added value of the project was the fact that it had taken the form of an expert panel in the premises of a "think-tank", which brought about some new stimuli, albeit subsequently amended by the realistically-conservative approach of the participants who had been personally involved in the intelligence services. The weakness of the project was in the inability to harmonize some of the contradictory standpoints as well as entirely different approaches. Mutual inconsistency of the standpoints is so big in certain cases, that the expert panel is unable to superordinate one solution above the other. Thus, they are left to the reader's own discretion. The choice of solution depends on a political decision, for which the study can provide grounds.