Rebalancing Rights and National Security: Reforming UK Intelligence Oversight a Decade after 9/11

摘要

The UK government has accepted the case for strengthening the oversight of the security and intelligence agencies in its 2011 Green Paper on Justice and Security and in the draft Justice and Security Bill 2012. While welcome these proposals are, however, seriously deficient in neglecting the potential contribution of oversight to the protection of human rights. This article argues that democratic oversight should play a significant role in strengthening the protection of human rights by way of audit of policies and review of operations of the agencies, with regard to international intelligence cooperation and where the storage and use of personal data by the services is concerned.