It is with deep satisfaction that we present to our Readers this number 20 of Per Aspera ad Veritatem, now in its seventh year of publication. It is not for the Editorial Office to evaluate whether success has been achieved, especially since our work is still in progress, however, the Forum on the relevance of "institutional communication" (that is communication of the public institutions) which opens this issue, offers us an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of this project.
Credit in terms of innovative spirit, modernity and courage is duly to be given to Prefetto Gaetano MARINO and to Prefetto Carlo MOSCA. Seven years ago, in 1995, they perceived that an effort to restore the image of national security intelligence after a particularly difficult time, could benefit greatly from culture as an aid to recover the dignity and delicacy, within meaningful contents, of this hard and fascinating work.
We believe that if the attention towards intelligence matters has grown in intensity and in quality and if many prejudices have been overcome, it may partly be due also to this communication effort which continues to generate encouraging feedback.
We still have a long way to go, even within the intelligence structures where professional culture and wide-reaching training programmes still need to be joined together effectively. With this in mind we present this twentieth volume, noting with satisfaction the good health that Per Aspera ad Veritatem enjoys. It is an achievement which gives encouragement to all those who have believed in this project and have dedicated time and effort to it, and who intend to go on doing so in the future.
"Institutional communication", even in cyberspace (in December 1999, with Prefetto STELO as Director General, Per Aspera ad Veritatem appeared on line at the web site www.sisde.it) is one of the main topics of this volume and the interesting opening Forum analyses how this "new" frontier affects intelligence for national security. The valuable contributions by CALIGIURI, DI NUNZIO, MOSCA and SORICE, together with the interview with Stefano ROLANDO on the volume (a collection by many authors) Teoria e tecniche della comunicazione pubblica. Dallo Stato sovraordinato alla sussidiarietà, the latest addition to his many scientific works, makes a significant contribution to the ongoing debate - both at the national and the European level - on the role of institutions in the evolution of the State.
An relevant on medium to long-term intelligence perspectives is provided by Christopher ANDREW, an outstanding expert and renowned historian who, in the interview he gave to our Magazine, outlines his views on the intelligence of the 21st century. He provides original and inspiring inputs which we recommend to compare with GANNON's observations on the role of Intelligence Services within the current process of globalisation.
Other relevant issues have been included in Part I. In particular, CARACCIOLO carefully analyses the situation in the Balkans which is a very topical subject considering also the recent, most worrying developments in Macedonia. with her unique expertise, PIACENTINI deals again with the Islamic world and the situation in the Gulf area and in Central Asia, two crucial geo-political crossroads. An accurate and qualified analysis of the risks and the opportunities stemming from financial globalisation is offered to our Readers by ROSSI, Director of the Research and Analyses Office of the Bank of Italy.
Last June the newly-elected XIVth Parliament started its activity. As usual we will publish all the bills on the intelligence system and on State secrecy, two subjects widely debated by the XIIIth Parliament, that we hope will be regulated by the new one.
Further, we publish some documents and courts' judgements on terrorism and cybercrime which we believe may be of interest to our Readers.
The above-mentioned interview with ROLANDO opens the particularly rich section devoted to bibliographic recommendations. Two volumes by COLOMBO and CONTALDO focus on "communication", leitmotiv of this issue, but we draw our Readers' attention to some other outstanding volumes on nationalism, peoples and religions which are all useful to widen one's horizons in order better to interpret the complexities of contemporary world reality. DE STEFANO in his original and convincing work explores the existing points of contact between italian criminal law - the corner stone of any civil law system - and national security and secrecy, touching upon the key aspects of a possible future reform of the intelligence system.
The usual window that our Magazine opens onto other Countries' intelligence systems is this time dedicated to Switzerland, and to its recently reformed security organisation. For those who are interested, details on this reform are available on the Service's web site (the address is shown at the bottom of the first page of the text).
Finally, for the Historical Curios, the Magazine has "disturbed" one of the fathers of Italian literature, Alessandro MANZONI, and his masterpiece I Promessi Sposi, hoping to make our Readers curious and amused.