Andrew Defty
@adefty
Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Lincoln, UK. Parliament, the intelligence services, a little bit of social policy. Views are my own.
My latest article on intelligence oversight in the U.K. out now in @IntelNatSecJnl focuses on the role of Ministers in providing accountability - ‘Familiar but not intimate’: Executive oversight of the UK intelligence and security agencies tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
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The ISC should have been told about the Breach at once...It's high time the ISC was retored to its previous pre-2015 standing.
The Intelligence and Security Committee will be conducting an inquiry into the Afghan data breach isc.independent.gov.uk
NEW: Budget cuts and promotion freezes are seeing staff at UK intelligence agencies leave for the private sector. With the promise of better pay, career progression and better work-life balance, the govt faces a drain of talent from security services. inews.co.uk/news/mi5-spies…
More than 100 British special forces troops, MI6 spies and military officers were named in the data leak along with the whereabouts of Afghans seeking sanctuary in the UK, it is understood after a government U-turn thetimes.com/uk/defence/art…
Lowering the voting age to 16 will equalise youth political rights across the UK but comes with some significant policy challenges. Read my thoughts on @ConversationUK theconversation.com/uk-to-lower-vo… @electoralreform @ElectoralCommUK @Shoutout_UK @mhclg @DCMS @educationgovuk @UKYouth
My employer is using the ugly compound word 'rightsizing' to describe the closing of building and the compression of office and teaching space. I had a look in the OED just so we're clear about what that means...
Not for the first time, this reflects different views of the ISC. The Courts tend to view the ISC as a statutory body with significant powers, while recent governments and sometimes the agencies as well, tend to view it as a parliamentary inconvenience to be ignored at will.
I genuinely think this whole story is actually something close to the worst damage you can really imagine for constitutional norms. (Or at least what our constitutional norms should be, in terms of the crown in parliament being sovereign, rather than bureaucrats or judges.)
Accepting security briefings on Privy Council basis as LOTO is a double edged sword. When it comes to scrutiny being outside the loop may better than being informed but bound by secrecy.
Kemi Badenoch was offered security briefing in March where she would have been told about Afghan data leak & secret resettlement scheme for first time. But she didn't attend because she didn't think it was urgent. Tory leader's spox said that as opposition leader she received…
🇬🇧🇮🇷 There were many warnings about Iran's hostile operations in the UK after a big dossier was published by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee But most reports missed the fascinating, frightening details of real-life cases scattered in its 246 pages... (🧵1/3)
Yesterday the Intelligence and Security Committee met with the Prime Minister for the first time since 2014. There is still work to do but this is an important step in putting relations between the ISC and government back on an even keel.
Ministerial misdirection at work: @jcartlidgemp asks when the Single Intelligence Account was last included in the “core defence budget”. @darrenpjones says the SIA is not included in “the Ministry of Defence’s budget”. Not the question. The real answer… questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questi…
Public can have say on latest oil drilling update - full story ⬇️ bbc.in/3IpP4us
The Intelligence and Security Committee has published a long and detailed report on Iran: it identifies a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable” threat to the UK. We must see the threat from Tehran in a wider context and take it more seriously. spectator.co.uk/article/britai…
UK Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has published its report on #Iran. Evidence-taking ended in Aug ‘03 and (unsurprisingly) the interesting bits are redacted. Still a good overview of key concerns, assumptions. Some first impressions on the #nuclear bit.🧵
👀 The (long-awaited) Intelligence & Security Committee's report on Iran has just appeared. Link to the report is here ⏬️ isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/upl…
The Intelligence and Security Committee report on Iran was completed before Trump’s re-election but the experience of the previous Trump administration hangs heavily over the report.
