Monday 19 August 2013

Belgium watching contact between politicians and scientology

Originally posted by mnql1 on OCMB
Translation of a French article released on August 19, 2013 by the Belga News Agency:
Un rapport accablant pour la Sûreté de l'Etat
Quote:
A scathing report for Belgium's State Security Service

Belga, August 19, 2013

It is "problematic" that Belgium's State Security Service carelessly named politicians and other persons in a confidential report about the Church of Scientology. This is the assessment found in a report prepared by Comité I, the body that overseas intelligence services, and details of which were obtained by the daily newspaper De Morgen.

Alain Winants, the director of the State Security Service, indicated he does not wish to make any comments until he has read this report. He also declined to say whether recent criticisms might weaken his chances of being reappointed to his post. The confidential State Security Service report concerning the Church of Scientology that was leaked to the press last February discussed how this cult, which is under prosecution as a criminal organization, seeks to establish contact with politicians. The names of about 30 politicians appeared in the report.

Following this leak, Comité I conducted an investigation into the operation of the State Security Service and concluded that the authors of the leaked report did not receive clear and unambiguous guidelines. "Citing names, whether of politicians or other persons, is problematic. It does not seem necessary to state names, especially if the purpose is to inform about possible threats posed by certain associations or cults," says Comité I. "An analysis that describes in detail how (former) politicians are approached - and if they were or were not recruited - would have been more significant."

According to the committee, the lack of a serious thought about the strategy used by the Church of Scientology and the context in which these names were given led to the stigmatization of the persons named in the report.
 

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