"How to keep national security legislation transparent"

Commentary by Amb. (Ret'd) Paul Meyer
Senior Fellow, The Simons Foundation
Published by Canadian International Council's OPENCANADA.ORG, Canada's Hub for International Affairs
October 17, 2014

Paul Meyer discusses the rather open manner by which Australia has amended its national security legislation and the key role the Joint Committee of Parliament on Intelligence and Security played in this process.

"Providing proper oversight for security and intelligence agencies has often been a challenge for governments. Even the most advanced democracies have had difficulty balancing the rule of law (and its attendant requirements for transparency and justice) and ensuring that national security-related activity is not compromised. When one adds to the mix a complex threat environment and a rapidly changing technological context, the operational challenges can seem daunting.

Faced with such difficulties, both politicians and public servants can be inclined to let sleeping statutes lie and carry on their work on the basis of ad hoc internal modifications and ministerial authorizations under the convenient mantle of secrecy.

In a mature democracy, however, this is not an acceptable state of affairs." ...Continue reading at OPENCANADA.ORG.

Amb. (Ret'd) Paul Meyer is a Fellow in International Security, Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, and Senior Fellow, The Simons Foundation.