On 11th March 2004, international terrorism hit the city of Madrid and its citizens, thus inevitably writing another page in the history of horror and bloodshed. Violence escalating into full-scale attacks in Riad, Casablanca, Djierba, Istanbul, Nasiriyah and Moscow, has made it possible for the fundamentalist threat to ultimately materialise right in the heart of the old continent. This, however, has provided the context for some commentators rashing headlong to describe the nature and extent of the Spanish aggressive action exactly as the September 11 in Europe. Whatever the opinion may be, it is a matter of fact that the intelligence is acquiring an ever more strategical role, focused on the culture of sharing security, which is the indispensable condition to guarantee democracy and those liberties essential – alongwith other fundamental principles – to the political model of a civil society as is widely spread in western countries.
The voice of the atrocities of terrorist attacks against defenceless civilians is one which can only be inevitably heard through the brutality of the actions being perpetrated. To tell the thruth, a never-ending activity is being done in order to improve operational countermeasures in which difficulties nonetheless arise to affect the high and unavoidable vulnerability of our developed and complex society as much as the organisational, functional and legal tools available which are essential to adopt a global approach to the underlying transnational nature of similar threats.
In her article opening Part Two, Roberta BARBERINI, a well-experienced judge, offers our Readers a valuable summary of what has been achieved under the law, and the problems there still being left unsolved. Despite new priorities are now figuring high on governments’ agenda, following the events in Madrid many initiatives have been adopted throughout the European Union. Among these initiatives raising immediate relevance and interest for our intelligence Review, it is worth mentioning the subject as to how EU governments should provide new methods leading to information exchange, at least, in the area of action against terrorism, and which may well be a matter for appropriate institutional bodies to deal with. This topic is one which falls into the wide debate over the proposed European Constitution on account of the security features necessarily imported in such project, and which are included in the draft under discussion.
Moving into a different subject, we thought it proper to bring to the attention of our Readers that it has been a while since specialists, researchers, opinion makers, commentators, as well as governments and institutions focused on the extraordinary developments still occurring in China. While these developments have brought adverse side effects to the whole of editorial and media practice paying particular attention to the events occurring in this country, countless TV special broadcasts and lengthy pages appearing in dailies and periodicals have covered in-depth comments, interviews, or even analytical studies and monographs also published in the form of a critical appraisal of such events, thus occupying much of the space in the bookshelves of major book shops.
Similarly, the growing interest in events taking place in the eastern side of the world and, in particular, China, is one which has also proved to be right and reasonable to date. This is in spite of the need – as is always the case – for the sheer bulk of the facts learned about there to be properly distinguished or, to put it differently, to make an effort in order to recognize those facts which bear authenticity of their relevant and innovative features in such a way as to be able to develop credibility over the likely development of events in the future.
Bearing this in mind, we thought it right to open the current issue -28- of the Review with an interview with Professor WEBER who is, inter alia, the authoress of a much debated work titled Il miracolo cinese which has only recently gone to print. This work has been reviewed in Part Sixth of this issue.
In her role as Professor of International Relations at the Bocconi University in Milan, Maria WEBER’s very competent and documented analysis extends across a wide range of topical subjects which now stand high on the international agenda. This she does by providing interesting keys to understanding a reality that has only apparently remote significance to today’s experience. To illustrate, the political model and the period of rapid economic growth together with human rights, religious issues, geostrategic roles and relations with the United States, Europe and Italy, as well as the weight carried by information technology in the ongoing development process, are merely some of the relevant points dealt with by the academic in an extensive interview, which is also a window on the Islamic issue affecting a great Asian country.
As it will become clear when reading the present volume of Per Aspera Ad Veritatem, the theme covered in this interview also inspired us to incorporate images chosen from the many delightfully charming and attractive works of millenial Chinese art. We are sure that these instances of human creative skill and imagination will be appreciated by our Readers primarily for their beauty or emotional power (1) .
As a result of the public opinion becoming more socially aware, recent events in society have also been characterised by considerable changes in the way in which immigration issues have until now been approached, despite the fact that a state of dissatisfaction and disturbance is still being felt in people from a number of western European societies. In this regard, the need for action to be taken against illegal immigration has now become extremely important justified by the fact that any individual or collaborative enterprise that is credibly planned and designed to achieve integration can only be brought about provided flexible measures are taken on illegal entry. All the more so since the serious and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action against terrorism (and which should not be lost sight of) is combined with the need to avoid clandestine routes being taken by immigrants in their effort to penetrate national territories.
With regard to the various topics covering migratory movements from the point of view of security protection, D’AMICO, D’ASCENZO, DI TORA and VITALI exchange their ideas and views in the forum section on “immigration and national security”. While they each are recognised to be involved in such topics in their own way, these personalities provide our Readers with an opportunity of proving the validity of the views expressed by them being closely acquainted with issues of immediate relevance and interest, the solution of which otherwise becoming the usual commonplace remarks or statements made by other commentators in different time and space.
Part Two of this volume covering essays and articles is this time particularly rich and varied. We present the above mentioned BARBERINI’s work, providing an in-depth analysis of the legal and legislative aspects of national security, as well as SFORZA’s essay, and other thought-provoking aspects affecting the international geopolitical scenario as described in PICCIRILLI’s article. Last, but not least, mention should be made of other contributions of equal value dealing closely with intelligence issues by PEDDE and MAZZEI and which are effective in producing the intended result.
In the framework of increased co-ordination initiatives within UE, it is extremely relevant to signal the first meeting of the heads of Parliamentary Oversight Committees on Intelligence and Security Services, held in Rome late last year, organised by the Italian Parliament. This meeting brought together for the first time various members of parliamentary committees mandated by EU member states’ governments to perform inspection procedures in the area of intelligence and security affairs and other parlamentarians from those countries in which no specified inspection function is required of the competent organs under national ordinary legislation. As this meeting began to bear fruit for those well versed and experienced in the relative parliamentary procedures, we thought that the publication of the reports made respectively by the Honourable Enzo BIANCO, President in Office of Parliamentary Oversight Committee on the Intelligence and Security Services and State Secrecy, and Mr. Gianni LETTA, Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, might be of interest to our Readers. These reports are combined in the volume with a comparative general survey (prepared by) the Editorial Staff of the duties and organisation of the above inspection committees as established in some European countries.
As regards the relevant legislation and case law appearing in Part Four, mention should be made, in particular, of the judgment delivered by the Supreme Administrative Court in Finland of 7 November 2003. Being inspired by Europe-wide debate on the same subject, this Court ruled that a moderate course should be chosen between the need for transparency and the necessity for official documents to be kept secret. Based on the facts of the case, a journalist had requested access to documentary material providing information on activity undertaken by the Stasi (formerly DDR secret service) on some Finnish citizens, who were under suspicion of entertaining contacts with such service. His request was denied by the governmental intelligence department holding such official record on the grounds of several reasoned arguments such as the requirement to protect confidentiality standards arising out of the cooperation between secret services, with this providing the context for the acquisition of the documentation itself and privacy, i.e. the state or condition of the people’s names in the official record. The latter argument stands, of course, to bring in some kind of innovation to confidentiality aspects. However, whether the inference of both arguments was such in the main as to acquire relevance on account of the national security which needs to be protected, the Court cuncurrently established that denying rather than agreeing the applicant’s request for access to documentary material was justified on ‘correct’ grounds (and hence not mistaken in the intelligence department’s view) and, by implication, met the requirements most appropriate for the facts in the instant case. Our recommendation is for the Reader to go through the reasoned opinion of the Court because the questions it raises are constitutive of an important legal decision that may be followed in subsequent similar cases.

The regular features of this volume (i.e. intelligence and security services in other countries) concern the widely populated country in South America, Brasil, where rules on intelligence activity have only very recently been introduced. There is no doubt that the legal choices made in this domain by the Brasilian government raise interest from a comparative angle.
Gino RONCAGLIA, researcher and lecturer of information science applied to humanities, in his interesting interview touches upon again the topics dealt with in his survey Internet e l’undici settembre, recently published in the handbook Internet 2004. While some thought that the web would have collapsed, it is unexpected to remark that the crisis context gave rise to new forms of communication on the web, known as weblogs, described by the Author within the lines of the development process of the system, under his not only technical point of view.
There are many commentators who believe that La lettera rubata by Edgar Allan POE (an exceptionally intellectual and creative instance of literary ability) represents the first example of a prose narrative spy story, an account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment. It can be read in Historical Curios where it is presented by Francesco MOSCATELLI in a way which is original, exquisite and fascinating. We wish to express our thanks to him for constantly enjoying his collaboration with this Review. Finally, the regular features of this volume include a variety of published works appearing in the Book Review section. It is our custom to devote a small section to selected works on the subjects covered in this issue and which are relevant to current events. Recommended reading includes the writings by FOSSATI, ALLAM, BECK, GUOLO and MINI on themes discussed at length throughout this volume. Readers who take a strong interest in historical perspectives may find it useful to read a variety of recommended subjects based on a survey of their development originating at a particular time (Luigi STURZO’s analysis) or based on a retrospective survey of events or situations (ALVAREZ and STEPHAN’s analyses).