Transparency versus national security: the method of the constitutional law (working paper)

SUMMARY - 1. Introduction: the conflict between national security and transparency – Part one 2. The Italian law about state secret - 2.1. The leading case of 1977: national security as a constitutional foundation, and limit of state secret - 2.2. The effects of resorting to state secret before the judicial power: an “almost total” barrier to the criminal suit - 2.3. Secrecy is not breached although the records it regards have already been disclosed - 2.4. The oversight of the Italian constitutional Court in respect to the political nature of secrecy - 2.4.1. Considerations on the limits of subversion of the constitutional order for the use of state secrets and on the requirement of justifying the secrecy order - 2.5. Final considerations – Part two 3. The United States’ system: state secrets privilege and oversight of the judicial power - 4. The viewpoint of the European Court of Human Rights - 4.1. Secrecy and human rights in the ECHR’S jurisprudence - 5. Conclusions -