Scrutinising the secret state: parliamentary oversight of the intelligence and security agencies.

In this article the authors examine oversight by the British Parliament of the nation's intelligence and security agencies. The article notes that there was no parliamentary supervision of security matters in Great Britain until the enactment of the Security Service Act in 1989 and the Intelligence Services Act of 1994. The central focus of the article is on the actions of the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee and the wider role played by Parliament in the administration of national security affairs.