Agenda: Latest Disaster Planning Could Turn Out to Be One ; Birmingham Post

Summary

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The publication yesterday of the National Security Strategy was described by the Prime Minister as the first full and honest assessment of the risks facing Great Britain today and in the future - from terrorism and nuclear war, to climate change, floods and flu pandemics. Starting later this year, Mr Brown said, the Government will publish a register of information previously held confidentially within Whitehall "so the public can see at first hand the challenges we face and the levels of threat we have assessed".

The immediate reaction when a Government says it is going to be more open, from long experience, is to stifle a cynical chuckle and say that we have been here before. The Freedom of Information Act was supposed to put paid to excessive secrecy at local and national government level, but there are so many caveats and get-out clauses that more than enough ways exist for those who wish to obstruct requests for information to do so.

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Extract

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Agenda: Latest Disaster Planning Could Turn Out to Be One ; Birmingham Post

Whether the National Security Strategy register of risks turns out to be a...

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