Liberty has consistently called for a review of the Official Secrets Act - and of the cases being prosecuted under it.

Protecting national security is a genuinely important interest - but current law in the UK fails to provide a proper balance between that national security interest and the public's right to freedom of informnation.

The current secrecy laws are far too restrictive; they encourage abuse. Refoerms need to ensure proper judicial scrutiny of any restriction on people's freedom of expression or information; the authorities should have to prove a real need for restriction. "National Ssecurity" needs to be properly and tightly defined. And the Security and Intelligence Services should be made more accountable to the Parliamentary Intelligence & Security Committee.

The review must also go further than just the Official Secrets Act. For example, the Public Interest & Disclosure Act 1998 - the "Whistleblower's Act" - should be amended to protect whistleblowers from the security services where they are acting in the public interest, just as it protects people from other essential public services.

For more information on our concerns, see Secrets, Spies & Whistleblowers, published by Liberty and Article 19 in November 2000.