Albania's intelligence after Hoxha: the cat's grin and hidden claws

Abstract

Albania’s intelligence transformation began in earnest after the end of the Cold War and the country’s transition to democracy in1991. In general, democratic reform of intelligence is an onerous and taxing process, given democracy’s demand for transparency and accountability which competes with intelligence’s demand for secrecy. Albania, as have other Central and Eastern European developing democracies, encountered a panoply of challenges and complexities in its intelligence democratization endeavors. Utilizing Sir David Omand’s Cheshire Cat metaphor for intelligence and democracy, we attempt to identify whether Albania, after nearly two decades of democratization, and currently a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member and European Union (EU) candidate status country, has been able to benefit from the Cheshire Cat’s grin (i.e., transparency, accountability, and democratic control of intelligence work=activity), while safely concealing its body and claws (i.e., secrecy inherently involved in intelligence work).