ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the background reasons for the acute and ongoing problems presented by national security issues within court processes. It consider the three solutions adopted in the JSA 2013. The chapter assess and criticise the legislation by reference to a framework of justice and respect for rights, and by contemplating the likely impact of the Act. The policy paper behind the UK Government's Justice and Security Green Paper, which set out proposals to change court procedures in civil cases involving national security information. A problem arising from national security litigation is that the government may be able to convince a judge to suppress sensitive evidence by invoking the common law doctrine of public interest immunity. The JSA Act further implementation involved the passage of new rules of court which were almost as controversial as the Act itself. The Green Paper emphatically disclaims any seepage into criminal proceedings: Civil and criminal proceedings in England and Wales are fundamentally different.
