"Police ex-President Husák gets vetted despite opposition from BIS"

I am making this statement in connection with false information published on 8. 1. 2008 in the daily Právo, in an article entitled ‘Police President Husák received a vetting despite opposition from the BIS’, editor Jakub Troníček.

Although the National Security Authority is not entitled to disclose information about the security procedure of a particular person to a person or entity other than a participant in the security procedure, which is only an applicant for the issue of a certificate of a natural person, I consider it necessary to comment on the information referred to in that article concerning the procedure of the National Security Authority for issuing certificates, which is completely false.

When conducting a security procedure to issue a certificate of a natural person, the National Security Authority shall obtain the necessary information from the authorities of the State, including the intelligence services. All this information shall be used in the context of the security procedure with full responsibility and seriousness and shall be carefully evaluated, in particular, from the point of view of the absence of a security risk for the person subject to the screening. The information obtained by the intelligence service's investigation is irreplaceable and very important in the whole system of security management, it plays an essential role in the overall evaluation, and for this reason the National Security Authority always respects its findings on the occurrence of a specific security risk.

As in any other case of security proceedings, I am prepared to document the above statements and the overall procedure of the National Security Authority in carrying out the security clearance of Mr Vladislav Husák, in accordance with Act No 412/2005, to the supervisory body of the Chamber of Deputies – the Permanent Commission for Supervision of the Activities of the National Security Authority.

False claims made in an article in the daily Právo by Mr. Jakub Troníček may cause unreasonable distrust in the process of issuing certificates in the general public and may also have a negative impact on the assessment of the Czech Republic abroad.

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