Comparative study of international counterintelligence legal standards and their implementation

Abstract The relevance of the study was the need to develop effective legal mechanisms for counterintelligence activities in the context of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration and the need to ensure a balance between national security and the protection of human rights. The purpose of the study was to conduct a comparative legal analysis of international standards and national approaches to the regulation of counterintelligence, to determine the prospects for the adaptation to the legal order of Ukraine. The subject of the study is the legal mechanisms for the regulation and control of counterintelligence activities, including procedures for restricting human rights, the procedure for conducting counterintelligence measures, and systems of judicial, parliamentary, and independent oversight. The application of a comparative legal approach, analysis of judicial practice, and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of national acts allowed identifying key trends and drawing conclusions regarding the effectiveness of various control models. In the studied countries, multi-level oversight systems have been formed, combining parliamentary, judicial, and independent institutions with different levels of institutional detail: in the USA—a specialized court, in the UK—a ‘double lock’ mechanism, in Germany—a quasi-judicial commission, in France—an independent administrative body, in Israel—the Supreme Court. A comparison of these models made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses and assess the impact of institutional architecture on the effectiveness of democratic control. It was found that Ukrainian legislation, despite the certainty of the legal basis for the activities of special services, remains fragmentary in matters of transparency and accountability. The analysis showed: among the strengths—orientation to international standards and certainty of legal foundations, among the weaknesses—the need to improve existing forms of control, increase the effectiveness of coordination between security sector entities, and clarify procedural guarantees taking into account the conditions of martial law. The results obtained confirmed the feasibility of further adapting international practices to the Ukrainian context by enhancing the effectiveness of existing control institutions, which will contribute to strengthening the national security system, increasing its resilience to hybrid threats, and can be used by state bodies, international organizations, and expert communities when developing strategies to improve legal regulation in the field of counterintelligence.