Ricerc@Sapienza

The essay focuses on the parliamentary oversight on state secret and
intelligence in the light of some experiences such as the Italian, French
and Belgian ones.
The issues of security and respect for democratic rules in the exercise
of the Executive powers under state secret and intelligence are matters
on which the legal systems are having to face more and more: they take
political relevance just for the “sensitive” content of the inherent
activities. Historically, the secret state and the activities of the security
services have always been a prerogative of the Executive which had not
only the monopoly of its use but also a total discretion in the definition
of the rules relating to its use and its protection. Since some decades,
however, all countries have revealed the need to guarantee full respect
for the separation of powers and the rule of law through the provision of
effective controls. The path towards un effective parliamentary control,
however, has struggled to establish itself fully.