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In the same way that in freedom of information around the world, the onus is always… the balance is always on disclosure and the state has to argue why it keeps things secret. But the problem always is in enforcement and who enforces it. And it becomes particularly problematic in the intelligence agencies. Because there you've got this argument of national security and what is happening is that national security is becoming the new word of God, where you can't challenge it. You can't challenge the facts behind why we go to war or why have we put people in prison or why have we occupied a country. And that's where I do kind of think that we need to push the line further.

— Heather Brooke Attributed Chatham House Talk (2011)

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More quotes by Heather Brooke

National security is becoming the new word of God to which all must submit in blind obedience.

Security services in principle exist for our protection but that is so only when they are accountable to the public for their considerable power.

Once the right of the people to see justice being done is eroded, it is not long before there is no justice at all.

You should not expect politicians to promote freedom of information. Why should they? They have a vested interest in controlling the public's access to information and thereby maintaining their grip on power.

With its idolising of stony-faced ‘strong men’, its fantasies of domination and control, fascism is the ideology of the insecure man. A man who feels - at base - unworthy, unwanted and powerless.

Substack Newsletter - Fascism: a disease born of male insecurity (2024)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Heather Brooke (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.