Proshayev V. Intelligence Bodies in the System of State Power: A Constitutional and Legal Study

The dissertation is the first complex scientific work in Ukraine in which the problem of constitutional and legal regulation of the organization and activity of intelligence bodies in the system of state power is explored from the standpoint of comparative law. Previous domestic and foreign scientific research was based on the theory of political, military and economic confrontation. Since the adoption of open-ended legislation on foreign intelligence in many countries, a new area of scientific research has emerged, characterized by the study of the legal aspects of the functioning of intelligence agencies, the justification of the need to ensure their activity in the legal field, on constitutional grounds, in the system of state power and in a system of state power. In the dissertation, for the first time, the constitutional provisions and basic normative legal acts of different states that are directly or indirectly related to the activity of intelligence were subjected to scientific analysis. Historically, the main normative legal acts of the Soviet period (1917-1990) were explored. According to the results of the analysis of normative legal acts adopted at the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI century, the stages of development of the modern system of legal regulation of the activity of the intelligence bodies were determined and substantiated. The genesis of the constitutional and legal regulation of the organization and activity of intelligence agencies in the system of state power is investigated. The conceptual principles and theoretical aspects that legislators should consider when drafting intelligence laws are outlined. General and excellent intelligence and law enforcement activities are considered. The subject and method, the content of the constitutional and legal regulation of intelligence activity are investigated. It is proved that since the sphere of intelligence activity is specific, the subject matter and method of its constitutional and legal regulation must also be specific and different from the subject matter and method of legal regulation in other fields. The system of relations between different intelligence entities, which should be regulated by legal regulations, is considered. The evolution of the rights, responsibilities, social and legal protection of intelligence officers and persons collaborating with confidential intelligence has been investigated. A special place in the dissertation was given to the questions of the constitutional and legal definition of the essence of parliamentary control and oversight of the activity of foreign intelligence bodies. Here are a number of suggestions that are appropriate to reflect in the domestic law on intelligence activities. The peculiarities of the application of the operative-search legislation by the intelligence bodies are investigated. Possibilities of intelligence units applying the operative-search legislation in solving intelligence tasks are shown. The problems of observance of the constitutional rights and freedoms of the person and the citizen during application of the provisions of the operative-search legislation by investigative bodies are investigated. The logical and final stage of the dissertation is to consider the conceptual and methodological foundations of improving the national legislation on the activities of intelligence agencies, taking into account the experience of lawmaking in other countries.