ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on issues related to 'national security' and is divided into two parts. The first part deals with some definitions and looks at who or what is responsible for 'national security'. It can then be seen that there are difficulties in setting limits. The second part looks at who or what balances the competing public interests of suppression on the one hand and disclosure on the other. Some of the definitions of 'national security' described may say that 'the state' equates to the government, or the executive, or even the Prime Minister. In addition 'national security' is whatever the government, or the executive says it is. Some issues relating to national security would be relevant to any government, but other, different, issues would be relevant to particular governments depending on different factors such as the political persuasion of the party in power.
