Officials Can Propose Their Information as State Secret to NSS: Minasian

During the discussion of the draft law on "State Secret" and related legislative proposals in the National Assembly of Armenia, Artsvik Minasian, secretary of the "Armenia" faction, stated that the draft law does not meet the constitutional requirement that any limitation of rights must be justified and described, as well as guaranteed by law from a security perspective.

He emphasized that regulations concerning state secrets are highly important but noted that the current draft lacks sufficient direction from a security standpoint to ensure everything is protected adequately.

"There is no specification regarding what justifications are necessary for information about a person or specific events to be considered a state secret. Consequently, there could be a situation where the shoe size of a person under state protection could be classified as a state secret," Minasian remarked.

He pointed out that according to the draft law, any official can propose that any information about themselves or their surroundings be classified as a state secret.

Minasian also addressed the issue concerning parliamentarians’ legal right to access state secrets. The faction secretary mentioned that he had contacted the NSS, which informed him that none of their individuals had their state secret permits revoked, yet they continually receive rejections for requests for certain information.

Tigran Harutyunyan, the Deputy Director of NSS who presented the draft law, noted that the proposal also includes renaming the law on "State and Service Secrets" to "State Secret," as the analysis of international practices indicated that this is how such laws are typically designated. In this regard, the term "service secret" will no longer be used in the draft, and any information with a classification as "secret" will also be categorized under state secrets. This effectively means that service secrets will be considered state secrets according to the draft.

"Information classified as state secrets will have designations of 'of special importance', 'top secret', and 'secret'. The draft also regulates relations concerning the distribution of service-related information, stipulating that such information contains elements that are part of state secrets. By itself, this information does not reveal the state secret. According to the draft, documents containing such information will be marked for 'service use only' and will be retained for a maximum of five years," Harutyunyan explained.

He also discussed matters related to the functions of state and local self-government bodies and officials concerning the protection of information classified as a state secret. Harutyunyan noted that individuals with access to information marked as 'of special importance' and 'top secret' are required to inform NSS about their private visits to foreign states in accordance with established procedures.

The speaker also emphasized that the package of drafts proposes to tighten criminal liability for disclosing state secrets. Additionally, administrative responsibility is anticipated for revealing information marked as 'secret' as well as for violating restrictions imposed on individuals authorized to access state secrets.