FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2002
Vietnam launches catalogue of state secrets
AFP
HANOI: Vietnam's communist government is set to compile an inventory of all its state secrets as part of an overhaul of the way sensitive information is classified, state press said on Friday.
According to a government directive published Thursday, ministers, political and social groups as well as provincial chiefs must compile a list of secrets they are responsible for guarding.
The move is a rare glimpse into the internal operations of the communist authorities, who have jailed numerous dissidents for revealing state secrets but never formulated publicly what these are.
The new directive, which takes effect on April 13, designates three classes of classified information. They range from basic state secrets to extremely sensitive top-secret documents, particularly those concerning national security, foreign policy, espionage and counter-espionage and the internal wrangling of the communist party.
The prime minister's office will decide what secrets must be graded "top" and the police and defence ministries will handle their own inventories, the army newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Dan said.
According to party newspaper Nhan Dan last month, the directive is "aimed at raising the responsibility of political and social organizations, the armed forces and all Vietnamese citizens through the protection of state secrets, thus contributing to the construction and the defence of the homeland".
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