Somewhat bizarre that this should be published at this particular juncture in time – If I were John Le Carre i’d be weaving this into the plot of my new novel
The following is a guest post by Clare Feikert-Ahalt, a senior foreign law specialist at the Law Library of Congress covering the United Kingdom and several other jurisdictions. Clare has written numerous posts for In Custodia Legis, including Revealing the Presence of Ghosts; Weird Laws, or Urban Legends?; FALQs: Brexit Referendum; 100 Years of “Poppy Day” in the United Kingdom; 100 Year Anniversary of Restrictions on Alcohol in England and Wales for Those Under 18; Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office Spurs Possible Law Change, and more.
The Law Library of Congress recently published a report, titled United Kingdom: Roles and Responsibilities of the Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service. The report discusses the functions of the Security Service, the United Kingdom‘s “domestic” intelligence agency commonly referred to as MI5, and the Secret Intelligence Service, the UK’s overseas intelligence agency, commonly referred to as MI6.
The report sets out the provisions of the Security Service Acts of 1989 and 1996, which placed the Security Service on a statutory footing. It notes that the Security Service is not a law enforcement agency and does not have any law enforcement powers, such as the power to detain or arrest, with the agency operating to collect and disperse intelligence. The report reviews the role and functions of the Security Service and the additional legal framework under which it operates when undertaking these functions.
The report contains an overview of the Secret Intelligence Service, noting its origins and that it operated without being acknowledged for almost 90 years. It provides an overview of the Intelligence Services Act 1994, which provided an acknowledgment of the Secret Intelligence Service and placed it on a statutory footing. It considers the functions of this service and the circumstances under which these functions may be undertaken, such as in the interests of the national security regarding the defense and foreign policies of the UK; in the interests of the economic well-being of the UK; or in support of the prevention or detection of serious crime.
The report notes how oversight of the agencies is provided by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which operates within the “ring of secrecy” to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of all the intelligence agencies.
While the functions and operational priorities of the Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service are distinct, the areas of responsibility overlap and the report considers how the effective and efficient sharing of information and collaboration between the intelligence agencies is achieved while accountability is maintained.
The Law Library’s report on the Roles and Responsibilities of the Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service is available here.
The report is an addition to the Law Library’s Legal Reports (Publications of the Law Library of Congress) collection, which includes over 4,000 historical and contemporary legal reports covering a variety of jurisdictions, researched and written by foreign law specialists with expertise in each area. To receive alerts when new reports are published, you can subscribe to email updates and the RSS feed for Law Library Reports (click the “subscribe” button on the Law Library’s website). The Law Library also regularly publishes articles related to government national security in the Global Legal Monitor.
