The National Security Constitution: (Hart Studies in Security and Justice)

This book addresses the various ways in which modern approaches to the protection of national security have impacted upon the constitutional order of the United Kingdom. It outlines and assesses the constitutional significance of the three primary elements of the United Kingdom's response to the possibility of terrorism and other phenomena that threaten the security of the state: the body of counter-terrorism legislation that has grown up in the last decade and a half; the evolving law of investigatory powers; and, to the extent relevant to the domestic constitution, the law and practice governing international military action and co-operation. Following on from this, the author demonstrates that considerations of national security – as a good to be protected and promoted in contemporary Britain – are reflected not merely in the existence of discrete bodies of law by which it is protected at home and abroad, but simultaneously and increasingly leaked into other areas of public law. Elements of the constitution which are not directly and inherently linked to national security nevertheless become (by both accident and design) implicated in the state's national security endeavours, with significant and at times far-reaching consequences for the constitutional order generally. A renewed and strengthened concern for national security since September 2001 has, it is argued, dragged into its orbit a variety of constitutional phenomena and altered them in its image, giving rise to what we might call a national security constitution.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Constitution and National Security I. The United Kingdom's Constitutional Order II. The National Security Constitution III. Structure IV. The National Security Council 1. The Counter-Terrorism Constitution I. Introduction II. CONTEST and the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre III. The Role of the Criminal Law in Counter-Terrorism IV. Counter-Terrorism Law up to and Including the Terrorism Act 2000 V. The 2000 Act and the Definition of Terrorism VI. Obsolete Counter-Terrorism Mechanisms VII. Current Counter-Terrorism Mechanisms VIII. Themes of the Counter-Terrorism Constitution IX. Conclusion 2. Investigatory Powers and the Constitution I. The Constitution and Investigatory Powers II. The Rule(s) of Law III. Investigatory Powers IV. Conclusion 3 3. The Military Constitution I. Introduction II. The Place of the Military in the Constitution III. The Use of Force in Constitutional Law and Practice IV. Legal Accountability for the Use of Force Abroad V. Drones VI. Conclusion 4. Citizenship I. Introduction II. Citizenship and the Right to Travel III. Immigration Law and National Security IV. Citizenship and National Security V. Citizenship, Passports and the Right to Travel VI. Conclusion 5. Secrecy I. Secrecy in the National Security Constitution II. Secrecy in the Courts III. Executive Secrecy IV. Conclusion: Secrecy in the National Security Constitution 6. Justiciability I. Introduction II. Justiciability (and Foreign Affairs) Generally III. Foreign Act of State IV. Crown Act of State V. Conclusion: The Courts and the Executive in the National Security Constitution 7. Sovereignty I. Introduction II. From National Security to International Security III. The International Pursuit of National Security and its Consequences IV. Conclusion: The Constitutional Consequences of the Internationalisation of National Security

About the Author :
Paul F Scott is Lecturer in Public Law at the University of Glasgow.