Recent events at the Intelligence and Security Committee make it increasingly difficult to justify the current arrangements for scrutinising the security services

The Intelligence and Security Committee is the only parliamentary body tasked with overseeing the work of Britain’s intelligence services, and has come under sustained criticism following revelations about the scale of surveillance that these bodies carry out. Andrew Defty argues that an alleged recent ‘leak’ from the committee could make it difficult to sustain the argument that the ISC should maintain its unique and special status as the only parliamentary Committee which can be trusted to oversee issues related to intelligence and national security.