Da intercepção de comunicações, acções encobertas e serviços de informações

The Portuguese Intelligence Services have their operational skills limited due to the grievances caused by the Dictatorship and, in particular, by its political police. With the help of historical elements, and by analyzing current legislation, we demonstrate that such grievances are today unjustified and misplaced, mainly taking into account the Risk Society’s multifaceted threats. Also part of our analysis is the impugnment of the Constitutional Court’s decision nº 413/2015, which pronounced unconstitutional the norm contained in Decree nº 426/XII, of the Republic’s Assembly, article nº 78, nº2, which intended to allow Intelligence Services access to the so-called “metadata”, as well as to tax and banking information. It is our understanding, and we demonstrate it in our dissertation, that should be allowed the access of, not only the above mentioned information, but also the means known as communications interception and undercover operations to the Intelligence Services, as long as properly supervised and inspected.