NID: CZECHOSLOVAKIA: TAKING ON THE SECRET POLICE

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826856
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: January 25, 1990

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826856
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: Taking on the Secret Police
Prague's new gorernment, dominated by the Chic Forum, sees the secret
police as 4 potential threat to democracy and is taking steps to neutralize
it.
Pctr Pithart, a Civic Forum leader,
expressed concern in a recent interview that some elements of the
secret police may be going underground.
Thgyeriiment is taking steps to restructure the Interior Ministry;
appointed trusted deputies, abolished internal surveillance
organizations, formed independent commissions to assess the
activities of the secret police, and begun investigations of ranking
Ministry officials for possible criminal activities.
Comment: Although the Interior Ministry still contains many hardline
Communists and it will take time to root them out, they cannot
realiitically consider a coup because of the Civic Forum's popular
support and their own political isolationJ
A more serious problem is the government's need to sustain the
legitimate law enforcement functions of the Interior Ministry. The
Civic Forum has already had to appeal to the population to cooperate
with the uniformed olice force and to refrain from harassing the
police.
5
--rarSeaget.
TCS 2720/90
25 January 1990
Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826856