Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases.
Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday.
The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said.
Photo: Ann Wang, REUTERS
The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to employment.
Taiwan lacks a unified, in-service clearance mechanism across government agencies, which allows potentially unfit personnel access to classified data, contributing to previous leaks affecting the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Bureau’s Special Service Command Center, he said.
The Legislative Yuan’s Legislative Research Bureau previously reported that the Defense Industry Development Act (國防產業發展條例) includes vetting requirements for qualified contractors and downstream suppliers involved in military projects.
However, given the growing integration of dual-use — civilian and military — technologies, people with access to sensitive or classified information are no longer limited to defense officials and personnel.
In the digital age, protecting classified data increasingly depends on those who handle it, the bureau said.
Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act stipulates that, with the exception of a person who handles the information within their scope of official duty, classified information cannot be known, possessed or used without a written authorization or approval from the original classification authority or its superior agency.
Vetting is conducted in a fragmented manner across agencies, lacking a unified, cross-ministerial standard, Chen said, adding that the current system results in “systemic vulnerabilities.”
Chen said that Article 14 should be amended to model Taiwan’s framework on systems used in the US and Japan by mandating that the central government establish or designate a lead authority to develop a nationwide security clearance framework.
The amended standards would apply to political appointees, civil servants and intelligence personnel throughout their service, enhancing overall national security protections, he said.
Yeh Yao-yuan (葉耀元), a professor and international studies chair at the University of St Thomas in Houston, Texas, said that such a security clearance system has long been in place in the US, and includes multiple levels of access depending on job responsibilities.
The US vetting process considers not only criminal records, but also social circles, online activity and past behavior for a comprehensive evaluation, he said.
Before implementing such a system, Taiwan would need to begin by discussing how to classify levels of sensitive information, he added.
Since the amendment would not be retroactive, Taiwan would also need corresponding support measures for people who have already accessed sensitive information without undergoing security clearance, he said.
Separately, Institute for National Policy Research Deputy Director Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁) compared the amendment with Japan’s recently passed Act on the Protection and Utilization of Critical Economic Security Information, which is to come into force next month.
That law expanded on an earlier law to cover concerns related to economic security, he said.
“Both the original 2014 act and the current one were controversial in Japan, with public opinion sharply divided,” he said. “Some members of the Japanese public viewed it as an infringement of civil rights for the government to designate information as classified without public disclosure.”
As a result, the latest Japanese act includes provisions explicitly protecting human rights and media freedom, he said.
In Taiwan, several different acts make stipulations regarding national and commercial secrets, and this lack of unified legislation could lead to legal ambiguities — especially when tackling foreign espionage, he said.
“Given the clear and present threat of infiltration from China, Taiwan must establish a comprehensive security clearance system, along with legislation clearly defining national and commercial secrets” he said.
Kuo also advocated for discriminatory laws targeting Chinese espionage activities, with stricter penalties specifically for Chinese spies.
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