Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Research and secrecy: dealing with archives of intelligence services in Spain

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archival Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article offers a critical assessment of the normative framework, functioning, and problems concerning the records and documents that are generated by intelligence agencies in Spain and that essentially make up two major blocks, depending on their life cycle: historical and non-historical records. It does so by proposing the concept of integral inter-accessibility. The article addresses their legal regime, levels of accessibility, and consultation for the purposes of political, economic, and judicial control, as well as internal organisational efficiency. Furthermore, it deals with the manner in which they are generated, and the application of specific procedures and regulations for the protection of classified information, as well as its organisation, description, and integrated management in its active, semi-active, and inactive phases.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alberch I, Fugueras R (2008) Archivos y derechos humanos [Archives and human rights]. Gijón, Trea

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrew C (2012) The defence of the realm: the authorized history of MI5. Penguin

  • Archives Nationales (2015) Exposition à Paris: Le secret de l’État. Surveiller, protéger, informer. XVIIe–XXe siècle [Exhibition in Paris: State Secrets. Monitor, protect, inform. 17th–20th century]. http://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/web/guest/le-secret-de-l-etat Accessed Dec 2016

  • CNI (2015) Código ético [Code of ethics]. https://www.cni.es/comun/recursos/descargas/CODIGO_ETICO_CNI.pdf Accessed Dec 2016

  • CNI. Cultura de inteligencia [Intelligence culture] https://www.cni.es/es/culturainteligencia/introduccion/Accessed Dec 2016

  • Colomer Arcas MA (ed) (2009) Actas del Congreso Internacional de Archivos y Derechos Humanos: el acceso y la desclasificación de los documentos (Sarriá de Ter, 2–4 October 2008) [Proceedings of the International Congress on Archives and Human Rights: Access and declassification of records]. Diputació de Girona; Archivists Without Borders, Sarriá de Ter

  • Council of Europe (2010) UE: Recommendation CM/Rec (2010)13 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data in the context of profiling (23 Nov 2010). https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1710949. Accessed Dec 2016

  • Council of Europe (2012) UE: recommendation CM/Rec (2012)3 of the committee of ministers to member states on the protection of human rights with regard to search engines. https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1929429. Accessed Dec 2016

  • Cruces Blanco E (2015) ¿Yo de qué me quejo?, de que realmente no se ha hecho nada. La desclasificación, acceso y consulta de documentos del Ministerio de Defensa [What am I complaining about? That in reality nothing has been done. Declassification, access and consultation of documents from the Ministry of Defense]. Archivamos: Revista de actualidad de archivos y documentos, 97:5–7

  • de Ocaña Lacal D (2012) Ser o no ser: el archivero entre el derecho de acceso y la protección de la información [To be or not to be: the archivist between the right of access and protection of information] Tabula 15:149–186

  • Dezcallar J (2015) Valió la pena: una vida entre diplomáticos y espías [It was worth it: a life among diplomats and spies]. Península, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  • Entesa del Progrés de Catalunya [Political Party] (2015) Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales. Senate. X Legislature, 5 February 2015, no. 467, p. 2. http://www.senado.es/web/actividadparlamentaria/iniciativas/detalleiniciativa/index.html?legis=10&id1=622&id2=000013. Accessed June 2017

  • Esteban Navarro MÁ (ed) (2007) Intelligence glossary. Ministry of Defence, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Esteban Navarro MÁ (2011) Documentos secretos y derecho de acceso a la información en el marco del control democrático de los servicios de inteligencia [Secret Records and the right of access to information under the democratic control of intelligence services]. Tabula 14:111–135

    Google Scholar 

  • Esteban Navarro MÁ, Carvalho A (2011) Producción y transferencia de inteligencia [Intelligence production and transfer]. In: González Cussac JL (ed) inteligencia. Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia, pp 63–124

    Google Scholar 

  • González M (2017) Cientos de historiadores urgen a desbloquear la reforma Ley de Secretos Oficiales [Hundreds of historians claim for a reform of the Official Secrets Law] El País http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2017/05/24/actualidad/1495624786_977923.html. Accessed 24 May 2017

  • González Corral I (2012) El papel de las comisiones calificadoras en relación al derecho de acceso a documentos y archivos [The role of the appraisal commissions in regards to the right to access documents and archives] Tabula 15:187–196

  • González Quintana A (2008) Políticas archivísticas para la protección de derechos humanos, actualización y ampliación del informe elaborado para UNESCO y Consejo Internacional de Archivos (1995) sobre gestión de los archivos de los servicios de seguridad del estado de los desaparecidos regímenes represivos. International Council on Archives, Paris

  • Hughes RG, Jackson P, Scott LV (2008) Exploring intelligence archives: enquiries into the secret state. Routledge, Abingdon

    Google Scholar 

  • International Council on Archives (1996) Code of ethics. http://www.ica.org/en/ica-code-ethics. Accessed 06 July 2017

  • ISAD(G): General international standard archival description: adopted by the Committee on Descriptive Standards, Stockholm, Sweden, 19–22 September 1999 (2000) 2nd edn. International Council on Archives, ISBN 0 9696035 5 X

  • ISO 15489-1 (2001) Information and documentation: records management. Part 1 general

  • ISO30301 (2011) Information and documentation: management systems for records–requirements

  • López Wehrli SA, Caballero García A (1999) El acceso a los archivos militares: un análisis práctico [Access to military archives: a practical analysis]. Boletín de la ANABAD 49(3–4):319–341

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez Gorriarán C (2013) ¿Por qué no quieren una ley de transparencia para una democracia avanzada? [Why don´t they want a law of transparency for an advanced democracy?] http://carlosmartinezgorriaran.net/2013/06/03/por-que-no-quieren-una-ley-de-transparencia-para-una-democracia-avanzada/. Accessed Dec 2016

  • Melgar Camarzana M, López Wehrli SA (2010) Los archivos militares: qué son y cómo se tratan [military archives: what they are and how to manage them]. Gijón, Trea

    Google Scholar 

  • Morozov E (2012) The net delusion: the dark side of internet freedom. public affairs

  • Morozov E (2013) El reto de manejar grandes bancos de datos [The challenge of managing large databases]. El País, http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/06/24/opinion/1372068111_079679.html. Accessed 10 Oct 2015

  • Navarro Bonilla D (2007) Antecedentes históricos en la organización de la información y la documentación aplicada a la seguridad y la defensa de los estados [information science applied to the commonwealth security and defence: a historical background]. Anales de Documentación 10:281–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Navarro Bonilla D (2014) Information management professionals working for intelligence organizations: ethics and deontology implications. Secur Hum Rights 24(3–4):264–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Open Society Justice Initiative (2012) Declassification Procedures in Council of Europe Member States http://www.right2info.org/resources/publications/publications/declassification-procedures-council-of-europe-states. Accessed 09 July 2017

  • Peñarrubia Iza J (1999) El derecho de acceso a los archivos y a los documentos de la Administración militar [Right of access to archives and records in the military administration]. Civitas, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Pomed Sánchez LA (1989) El derecho de acceso de los ciudadanos a los archivos y registros administrativos [Right of access of citizens to archives and registers]. Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas, Madrid

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz Miguel C (2007) Problemas actuales del derecho de los servicios de inteligencia [Actual problems of the right of intelligence services] Inteligencia y seguridad: revista de análisis y prospectiva, 2:13–46

  • [SGDSN] Secrétariat général de la défense et de la sécurité nationale. Rapport d´activité 2015 [France. SGDSN Annual Report] http://www.sgdsn.gouv.fr/uploads/2017/01/rapport-d-activite-2015-du-sgdsn.pdf. Accessed Dec 2016

  • Shulsky A (2002) Silent warfare: understanding the world of intelligence. Potomac

  • Spain, RD 1708/2011 de 18 de noviembre, por el que se establece el Sistema Español de Archivos y se regula el Sistema de Archivos de la Administración General del Estado y de sus Organismos Públicos y su régimen de acceso [Royal Decree establishing the Spanish Archive System and regulation of the System of Archives of General Administration of the State, its Public Institutions and its normative of Access] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2011-18541. Accessed 12 Oct 2016

  • Spain, RD 436/2002 de 10 de mayo, por el que se establece la estructura orgánica del Centro Nacional de Inteligencia [Royal Decree establishing the structure of the National Intelligence Centre] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2002-9161. Accessed Nov 2016

  • Spain, RD 2598/1998 de 4 de diciembre, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de Archivos Militares [Royal Decree approving the Military Archives Regulation] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-1998-29347. Accessed Dec 2016

  • Spain, Ley 16/1985, de 25 de junio, del Patrimonio Histórico Español [Law of Spanish Historical Heritage] https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1985/06/29/pdfs/A20342-20352.pdf. Accessed Jan 2017

  • Spain, Ley 11/2002, de 6 de mayo, reguladora del Centro Nacional de Inteligencia [Law regulatory of National Intelligence Centre] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2002-8628. Accessed Nov 2016

  • Spain, LSO. Ley 9/1968, de 5 de abril, sobre secretos oficiales [Official Secrets Law] https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/1968/04/06/pdfs/A05197-05199.pdf. Accessed 15 Nov 2016

  • Spain, Ley Orgánica 2/2002, de 6 de mayo, reguladora del control judicial previo del Centro Nacional de Inteligencia [Organic Law 2/2002 regulating the previous judicial control of CNI] https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2002/05/07/pdfs/A16439-16440.pdf. Accessed Oct 2016

  • Spain, Ministry of Defence. Orden PRE/447/2003, de 27 de febrero, por la que se determinan los órganos de dirección, planificación y ejecución del Sistema Archivístico de la Defensa, […] se establece la dependencia y composición de la Comisión Calificadora de Documentos de la Defensa. [Order that establishes the direction and planning units of the Defence Archival System […] and the composition of the appraisal Commission of Defence Records] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2003-4378. Accessed 07 Dec 2016

  • Spain, Ministry of the Interior. Orden de 21 de diciembre de 2000 por la que se crea la Comisión calificadora de documentos administrativos del Ministerio del Interior y se regula el acceso a los archivos de él dependientes [Order that creates the appraisal Commission of Ministry of the Interior records and regulates the Access to its archives] https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2001-334. Accessed Jan 2017

  • Spain, National Authority for protection of classified information (2012) Seguridad de la Información [Security of information] https://www.cni.es/comun/recursos/descargas/NS-04_Seguridad_de_la_Informacion.pdf. Accessed Feb 2017

  • Spain, National Security Office. Delegated Authority for the Security of Classified Information–Spain–(2014), National authority norms for the protection of classified information. Madrid, Presidency of the Government, https://www.cni.es/comun/recursos/descargas/Normas_de_la_Autoridad_Nacional_para_la_Proteccion_de_la_Informacion_Clasificada.pdf. Accessed 9 Oct 2015

  • Spain, Ministry of the Interior, Orden INT/533/2014, de 19 de marzo, por la que se regulan las funciones, composición y funcionamiento de la Comisión Calificadora de Documentos Administrativos del Ministerio del Interior [Order which regulates functions, composition and functioning of the Records Appraisal Commission of the Ministry of Interior] https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2014-3653. Accessed Feb 2017

  • The “European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret Police Files”: a reader on the legal foundations, structures and activities (2014) Second revised edition. Berlin, BStU http://www.bstu.bund.de/DE/BundesbeauftragterUndBehoerde/AufarbeitungImAusland/Download-Reader-engl.pdf?__blob=publicationFile. Accessed 06 July 2017

  • Unabhängige Historikerkommission zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes 1945 bis 1968 (2012) [Independent Commission of Historians to study the History of BND] http://www.uhk-bnd.de/Accessed Dec. 2016

  • United Kingdom. Security Service MI5 (n.d.) Managing information. https://www.mi5.gov.uk/managing-information. Accessed 02 Aug 2017

  • United States of America. Federal Bureau of Investigation (2004) FBI Electronic recordkeeping certification manual. https://www.archives.gov/files/records-mgmt/toolkit/pdf/erkc-manual.pdf. Accessed 02 Aug 2017

  • Vadillo F (n.d.) Le renseignement dans le monde contemporain: publications et actualités de Floran Vadillo [Intelligence in the contemporary world: publications and news from Floran Vadillo]. http://www.floranvadillo.fr. Accessed 05 July 2017

  • Velázquez R (2014) Conservación de datos personales el necesario equilibrio entre seguridad pública, privacidad y libertad (I) [Personal data storage: the required balance between public security, privacy and freedom]. Red seguridad: revista especializada en seguridad informática, protección de datos y comunicaciones 67:40–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez R (2015) Conservación de datos personales el necesario equilibrio entre seguridad pública, privacidad y libertad (II) [Personal data storage: the required balance between public security, privacy and freedom]. Red seguridad: revista especializada en seguridad informática, protección de datos y comunicaciones 68:54–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Viñas Á (2014) Cerrados los archivos de Exteriores. Los esqueletos no saldrán del armario [Archives of Foreign Affairs Closed. Skeletons will not come out of the closet] http://www.angelvinas.es/?p=129. Accessed Nov 2016

  • Viñas Á (2016) Archivos para la historia: España requiere una norma precisa para regular la desclasificación de documentos [Archives for History: Spain requires a precise normative to regulate declassification of records] El País 22/dec./2016. http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/12/09/opinion/1481291788_826019.html. Accessed 24 Dec 2016  

  • Wisser KM, Blanco-Rivera JA (2016) Surveillance, documentation and privacy: an international comparative analysis of state intelligence records. Arch Sci 16(2):125–147. doi:10.1007/s10502-015-9240-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United States of America. Central Intelligence Agency (2005) Electronic recordkeeping system (ERKS) requirements. https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/information-management. Accessed Feb 2017

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Library and Information Sciences Department, University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe (Madrid), Spain

    Diego Navarro

Authors
  1. Diego Navarro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diego Navarro.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Navarro, D. Research and secrecy: dealing with archives of intelligence services in Spain. Arch Sci 17, 331–348 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-017-9278-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-017-9278-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation