The Historical Archives is a specialised state Archives. The responsible head of the Archives is the Director-General. The Director-General and the Deputy are chosen by open competition and nominated for seven years by the Speaker of the Parliament. Before the nomination, the candidates are interviewed by the National Security Committee and the Cultural Committee of the Hungarian Parliament. The rules of incompatibility are very strict. Nobody who has been a member of the Government, a State Secretary, an official or employee of a national organization of one of the political parties in the past ten years before the nomination can become Director-General or Deputy Director-General. The same regulation applies to those who were employed by the former State Security Organizations, received their reports, or acted as agents. Any person in this position can pursue an extra profession only in the fields of science, education, or arts.
The work of the Historical Archives is supervised under the Speaker of the Parliament. The Director-General is to present an annual report to the committees that interviewed him / her before his / her nomination. The circumstances under which the mandate of the leaders of the Archives ceases to exist are regulated by law. This rule practically ensures absolute independence for the institution. The Archives is a national institution with no regional organs. The number of employees is 104. The Archives is an independent, publicly financed institution. The budget is defined by the Parliament in the annual budget. According to experience so far, sources have been permanently available. Neither the elections nor governments crises have endangered continuous work sor far.