Diplomacy, states and secrecy in communications

This paper examines the role of secrecy in diplomatic communicatons, a subject rarely dealt with in books on diplomacy. It analyses the role of secrecy in negotiations, the importance of secrecy in communications between diplomatic missions and the sending State, state security and economic security. The concepts of secrecy, confidentiality and transparency are then considered. The next section is about codes and ciphers, Data Encryption Standard and public key systems. If human ingenuity can be used to conceal the meaning of messages, cryptanalysts can likewise break down secrecy. The last section examines the role of diplomats in preserving secrecy in diplomatic communications.