Security veto is open to abuse

Policing Authority constrained

The initial response to the Government decision to put “national security” beyond the reach of the soon-to-be-announced Police Authority must be one of disappointment and justified suspicion.

There can hardly be a phrase as flexible or as open to abuse as “national security” and it does not require the imagination of an Ian Rankin or a Henning Mankell to describe how the idea might be used inappropriately to stonewall legitimate inquiries or hide away unacceptable behaviour. Neither does it suggest that our destructive culture of secrecy bordering on denial is about to change any time soon.