I wonder what makes a journalist to create a piece of writing that risks the security of the nation? What is the purpose or motive of publishing otherwise indecipherable data? It happened - not for the first time - that HVG and Index press workers spared no effort to follow up on what they believe is a matter of great interest, how many secret service wiretaps the Hungarian government's justice minister authorized in one year. The figures made public - in a professional sense, compared to the size of our enemies attacking the country - are quite modest. But they got it, so they wrote it.
And?! Arabic numbers arranged in order, without any underlying content. The material received from the minister did not include who, when, and why it was necessary to check, because all the answers to these questions are classified data, which is a state secret. Moreover, the attempt to get to know them is to be prosecuted and is classified as a violation of state secrets. The ministerial procedure is regulated by the law adopted by the representatives of the parliament, as well as the operation of the secret service hidden behind the numbers. In the licensing procedure, the reason and operative purpose of the request must be specifically explained to the minister. If the action proposal violates the interests of the country, the universal rights of the citizens, i.e. the request cannot be supported professionally, the minister refuses to issue the permit. After that, the services have no possibility to appeal against the rejection.
So, the procedure indicated above exists and works with the observance of proper order - under whatever government is currently reigning - to guarantee our safety and to capture our enemies. Then - the question arises again - what did our publicists want to prove or even assert with the harsh numbers? It is fortunate that they did not try to draw spectacular conclusions and did not openly claim that the Orbán government is trying to prevent the strengthening of opposition forces with operative observations. They do not claim or explain anything. They are just - unjustifiably - teasing and leaving serious readers in doubt. With noble simplicity, they leave people alone with data that is invaluable to them.
The published numbers - not surprisingly - did not arouse any serious interest or popular anger, that is, apparently they did not achieve any visible concrete goals, but they are suitable for speculation, while their disclosure already harms the country's security interests. It offends because it causes confusion in the operation of law enforcement. The operative logic looks for the underlying intention in all similar manifestations related to the operation of the services. Why, for whom, what could be the next step - the analysis is ongoing - but it is mostly experienced as an external, unauthorized attack. Operative work and the activity of the organization slow down. If this sanda is the goal, the attacker played chess well, whoever is in the background. Because you can't get stuck on the possibility that the journalist just got it right and wanted to fulfill the monthly number of characters required by the editors by publishing these issues. In any case, the services cannot be satisfied with such a banal explanation.
They must ask the question: Who are these feather and eye twirlers? How did they get close to such a topic, what motivated them, and what results did they expect from the disclosure of the data? Are they really traitors or do they simply have no idea about the complexity of protecting the homeland? It is also possible that they missed the class dealing with the topic at the journalism school. From the point of view that their writing can weaken the security of the country, the real motive is irrelevant. I note that ignorance - due to its illogicality - can sometimes cause more damage than premeditated intention. And they are rarely accidental. Speech, words can get lost, but when we write something down, there is enough time to think about what to say. It is not life-like to write nonsense on paper out of a sudden impulse, which then even reaches the reader. All this so that an editorial staff could draw the attention of their "lost" colleague to the security risk at any time.
In other words, there is something we can claim. The discussed data came to light according to some intention. It is unacceptable in a professional sense, why doesn't the law declare that even the indicated numbers are classified data, which are forbidden to discuss on the street? It is about the fact that the services of opposing interests, but also the experts of criminal groups, are able to deduce from the numbers the trends they are interested in, such as the extent of the burden of prevention. Mosaic elements that mean nothing to the civilian world carry very important information for systems with special sensitivity. In a world of secrets, fragmentary information can be the missing link. And the thoughtless importance of some news portals can help you get access to such a mosaic, and the protection is already there.
The question is never whether it is possible to live without protection. The real challenge is to determine the optimal strategy. Protection depends on the right strategy. The tactical forms of guaranteeing security are built on the basis of the strategy. Anyone who overwrites all of this for tactical reasons will surely lose, even in the case of partial success. Staying with our example, an ill-advised press story can cause serious damage to a country's defense system. This is especially true if the article was not written out of boredom. If the publisher fulfilled an order, for example wanted to morally weaken the Hungarian services, then the published article can be assessed as a national security risk, regardless of what clause the law contains.
The tranquility of our lives consists of countless components. One of the first is protection, which means guarantees of our safety. Protection is needed on the visible borders of the country, as well as on its invisible battlefields, because this is how we can achieve the complete protection of our livable world.
László Földi, secret service expert
Source: magyarnemzet.hu
