I object to the statement of the editor of MF DNES, Mr Jaroslav Kmenta, published on 11 December 2009 in the daily newspaper MF DNES in an article entitled ‘Why could the estébák ‘reform’ into Bond 007?’. The facts stated by the editor in section ‘4. Error of the NBÚ’s checks’ are as follows: utterly false. Both the headline ‘Error of NSA clearance’ and the statement that ‘every secret service officer must have a security clearance from the National Security Authority’ are false.

The security screening of its members, employees and applicants for admission to the intelligence service is carried out and its outcome is decided by the intelligence services themselves, not by the National Security Authority. This principle applied both when Act No. 148/1998 Coll. was in force and at present when Act No. 412/2005 Coll. was in force. The National Security Authority does not have security clearance for this process, nor does it have a final decision none influence. The conclusion of the editor of Kmenta in the wording ‘However, the interpretation of such examinations is different and it depends, for example, on the knowledge one has’ must therefore be completely rejected and called a sheer shambles.

I would point out that, in the context of the security checks which it carries out, the National Security Authority examines very thoroughly all the facts that might indicate that the person under investigation was involved in or ‘just’ supported the suppression of human rights and freedoms. The finding of the existence of such a security risk is one of the most common reasons for the decision not to issue a certificate for access to classified information.

Ing. Dušan Navrátil, v.r.
Director of the National Security Authority