ABSTRACT
Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, as amended by the 1920 Act, covers espionage and related offences, like sabotage. Interestingly, the Franks Committee proposed that espionage and related offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 should be retained in a statute, separate from the Official Information Act, - renamed the Espionage Act. The complete removal of the criminal law from offences of unauthorized disclosure of official information, other than espionage, would be a substantial risk to our national security. The scope of the criminal law in respect of unauthorized disclosure of official information, other than espionage, is reduced by virtue of the Official Secrets Act 1989, since a smaller proportion of information in the hands of Crown servants is protected by criminal sanctions. The Official Secrets Act 1989 is a criminal law which has repealed, and replaced by new provisions, the old section 2 of the 1911 Official Secrets Act.
