The Official Record - by Peter Finn & Robert Ledger (Paperback)

About the Book

The construction, control and preservation of the Official Record is inherently contested. This volume interrogates the boundaries between national security, accountability, oversight, and the Official Record in the context of democratic states.

Book Synopsis

The construction, control and preservation of the Official Record is inherently contested. Those seeking greater openness and (democratic) accountability argue 'sunlight is [...] the best of disinfectants', while others seek stricter information control because, to their mind, sound government arises when advice and policy are formulated secretly. This edited volume explores the intersection of the Official Record, oversight, national security and democracy. Through US, UK and Canadian case studies, this volume will benefit higher level undergraduate readers and above to explore the Official Record in the context of the national security operations of democratic states. All chapters are research-based pieces of original writing that feature a document appendix containing primary documents (often excerpts) that are key to a chapter's narrative. As a result, this book interrogates the boundaries between national security, accountability, oversight, and the Official Record.

From the Back Cover

Who constructs, controls, and preserves the Official Record is key to documenting and understanding events. However, because of the potential of the Official Record to contain evidence of controversial policies and malfeasance, its construction, control and preservation in the arena of national security is inherently contested. This book interrogates the boundaries between national security, accountability, oversight and the Official Record in the context of democratic states.
Using historical case studies to explore the relationship between government record-keeping and accountability, The Official Record interrogates the tension between openness and secrecy in policy. It defines and explores the concept of the Official Record in democracies, and evaluates different methods of democratic oversight through the lens of the Official Record.
With case studies from the UK, US and Canada, the volume is designed to help readers explore the Official Record in the context of the national security operations of democratic states. Chapters are research-based pieces of original writing that feature a Document Appendix containing primary documents, often excerpts, that are key to their narrative. Engaging with a broad range of primary material, this book interrogates the boundaries between national security, accountability, oversight, and the Official Record.

Review Quotes

'In March 2025, United States (US) based magazine, The Atlantic, published details of US government executives planning airstrikes on Houthi controlled areas of Yemen. Having been inadvertently added to a group on open source, encrypted chat platform, Signal, which included the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency Director, The Atlantic's editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, revealed details of a policy making process that was arguably never intended to enter the official record, let alone the public or historical records... The Official Record: Oversight, national security and democracy is therefore an uncannily timely, as well as thoroughly researched and genuinely interesting, edited volume that details a variety of recent historical moments where the official, public and historical records have collided, overlapped or been confused from their usual, ordered existence.'
Tony Craig, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism

About the Author

Peter Finn is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at Kingston University.
Robert Ledger is a guest researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt.