ISS Seminar, Cape Town: Democracy, Information and National Security

Date: 2010-07-21

Venue: Institute for Security Studies, 2nd Floor, The Armoury, Buchanan Square, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock, Cape Town,

RSVP: Ms Hopolang Selebalo
Tel: (021) 461 7211
Fax: (021) 461 7213
a [email protected]

Presented by the Security Sector Governance Programme.

Given the public interest in the Protection of Information Bill that is currently under consideration in the South African Parliament, the ISS is hosting a public seminar to exchange ideas about the protection of information within a democratic dispensation. The seminar aims to bring together interested civil society groups, media practitioners, parliamentarians and representatives from the state security apparatus to provide a platform for dialogue on what is an important piece of legislation for South Africa.

Legislation to regulate the classification and declassification of information has been expected in South Africa since the end of the apartheid regime. The current legislation – The Protection of Information Act – dates back to 1982 and the height of the centralised security state. The 1982 Act does not find resonance in a democratic society with constitutional imperatives of openness, transparency and accountability. In this regard, the new Protection of Information Bill is welcomed as a step towards improving access to information by creating restrictions on the types of information that can be classified and controlled and limits on the periods for which information can be classified. Civil society groups have, however, expressed significant concerns about the potential of the new Bill to restrict media freedom, limit access to information and curtail public accountability.

The purpose of the seminar is to explore the modalities for regulating the restriction of access to information in order to protect legitimate national security interests while safeguarding the constitutional rights of access to information, participatory governance and public accountability.

Chair:
Lauren Hutton, Researcher, Security Sector Governance Programme

Speaker:
Suzanne Spaulding, US Intelligence and Security Expert

Suzanne Spaulding has spent nearly 25 years working national security and has served on commissions on cybersecurity and homeland security, convened and participated in numerous academic and professional advisory panels, and is a frequent commentator in publications, media, and before the US Congress. Before joining the private sector, Ms. Spaulding was Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She had started working on terrorism and other national security issues 20 years earlier, in 1983, as Senior Counsel, and later Legislative Director, for Senator Arlen Specter. After six years at the Central Intelligence Agency, where she was Assistant General Counsel and the Legal Adviser to the Director of Central Intelligence’s Nonproliferation Center, she returned to the Hill as General Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Olufolahan Adeleke, Open Democracy Advice Centre

Please note that discussions occur under ISS Rules. Participants are free to use the information presented, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed without his/her express permission.