National security vs the right of access to public information: limiting the limits

Abstract

In this paper our research is focused on the limits that the executive power (Prime Minister and Ministers) can currently use in order to apply national security as a reason for denying access to information about their public governmental activity.

Some of the best-known cases of conflicts between the Public Administration and  information requesters, whose request has been denied on the grounds of putting national security at risk, will be analysed to verify how civil servants have applied this limit, with the goal of knowing if the protection of national security is justified and proportionate according to the circumstances of each case, as established by the Freedom of Information Act for its application.

Likewise, the interpretative criteria developed by transparency offices will be exposed, along with with the legal reasoning by Spanish courts, with respect to the application of this limit. The purpose of this study is to find out if a particular denial of access to public information is related to the protection of national security, or if, in some cases, the public interest in knowing the said information has been harmed in favour of private interests of the heads of government, who invoked this limit without  appropriate justification.