Oldřich Černý

A full twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, successful Eastern European democracies continue to amaze scholars and political scientists. With little previous experience or education in democratic practices, countries like the Czech Republic were able to build western-style governments virtually from scratch. One only needs to look as far as Oldřich Černý, former Director General of the Czech Foreign Intelligence Service, to see how these governments grew from the most unlikely parts of society.

Although most observers of the region know that Václav Havel, the first president of the democratic Czechoslovakia, was a playwright before starting his political career, few know that Oldřich Černý made his living moving apple crates and dubbing movies shortly before being assigned National Security Adviser to post-Soviet Czechoslovakia. Having met Havel previously at a gym, Černý was an active participant in the Velvet Revolution. Thinking his job was done after a democratic Czechoslovakia was established, Černý sought to return home for a life outside of government service, but Havel asked him to serve in his new cabinet as National Security Adviser. At first, the idea seemed “absurd and preposterous” to Černý, and, in fact, the job was the only unfilled cabinet position because “no one even wanted the job.” Despite his misgivings, Černý would serve as National Security Adviser until the breakup of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the mid-1990s, and would later serve as head of the nation’s intelligence core.

Černý’s inexperience in government was the rule rather than the exception. “We were all hopelessly inexperienced,” he recalls. He admits that most of the new civil servants at least attempted to look the part of government officials, donning “ill-fitting suits” instead of their usual jeans and t-shirts. The first thing he noticed as head of intelligence was that the former dissidents would make terrible intelligence officers because, by nature, none of them would accept authority. It was then that Černý admits to making one of his biggest mistakes in turning to the professionals who had previously served under the Soviet Union. “They were eager to help, but were still in the mindset of the 1960s when they were purged from the Soviets. They organized us to fight the United States!”

Realizing the absurdity of the situation, Černý decided that it was time to rustle up a few new recruits, sometimes using persuasion through “heavy drinking.” These recruits were sent to Great Britain, despite the language differences, for training at MI6 and MI5, which had recently created new courses for the Czech intelligence under the direction of Lord Butler.

Not being an expert in English himself at the time, Černý could not understand why he “had to meet with some butler, who was supposedly the highest civil servant in Britain. I didn’t want to meet with servants. I wanted to meet with the people who could help the Czech intelligence,” he laughs.

Černý is also quick to recount how idealistic the young democratic leaders were, as they all wanted to fully embrace the West as quickly as possible. “When the [United States] Senators and foreign delegates came, we said that we wanted to be a part of NATO and the European Union even though seventy thousand Soviet troops were still in our country.” The new Czech intelligence agency also had to deal with the vast army of Soviet intelligence and counter-intelligence that still roamed much of the country. In addition, the new problems of a democracy often confronted the intelligence community, as drugs, crime, and bank fraud became more common in the Czech Republic. Today, despite the imposing threat of Russia, Černý believes that the intelligence community must focus more strongly on the threat of terrorism, as he believes that the “threshold for awareness is low and that the people are not prepared.”

Despite the fact that the Soviet intelligence community unsuccessfully tried to recruit Černý early in his professional career as a book editor, little in his early life would indicate that he would rise to such success in the new democratic government. His experiences are seen by many Americans and Czechs alike as being indicative of the grassroots democracies that took root in the Eastern European post-Soviet bloc.

Today, Oldřich Černý is the head of the Prague Security Studies Institute, one of the first thinktanks in the Czech Republic.