Author(s): Andrei ANGHEL
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2022
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 28/2022
DOI:
Abstract:
The expansion observed, in the last half-century, in the theorisation of
intelligence activity has magnetically attracted the need for an ethical topography of
intelligence services’ behaviour and states. Drawing on the fundamental concepts and
theories of this discipline, the article applies a complex evaluation grid to a recent case,
subsumed within a less popularized operation in the history of the intelligence service of
communist Romania.
By accumulating evidence from open sources, books, studies and corroborating
all available records in declassified archives, the paper presumes that the investigations
and measures undertaken by the State Security Department (Securitate) in the sphere of
the cinematographic environment are suitable for an analysis from an ethical angle.
Attempting to answer some fundamental ethical questions, the article includes a
brief presentation of the main theories in the field of intelligence ethics, followed by a
historical illustration of the main milestones in the issues addressed, during Ceauşescu’s
rule (1965-1989). Then, the combination of the two results in the ethical judgement, which
is the fundamental subject of the article.
The ethical perspective is enriched by the author’s proposal of a theoretical model
for evaluating and deciphering the case under inspection. The model has an adjuvant role
and does not imply its dissociation from the pre-existing theoretical foundation. Its
purpose is to contextualise the ethical interpretation and create a scale applicable to the
subjects and facts examined.
Keywords: intelligence ethics, communist Romania, just intelligence theory,
cinematography, censorship.
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