Security & Defence

Freedom of Information has been a "very big positive" in spite of "chilling effects", says Cabinet secretary

Defence secretary tells RUSI think tank that the latest cross-government defence strategy will be "positive, assertive and quite properly strategic"

MI5 director general Andrew Parker gives first live interview to "increase understanding" of intelligence agency's work – and suggests social media firms have an "ethical responsibility" to report terror concerns

Workforce shrinks by 8,000 posts – with GovCos and privatisations accounting for much of the change

Former attorney general – and recent critic of government's human rights plans – elected to lead the Intelligence and Security Committee

The official view: Clare Short spent six years as Tony Blair's international development secretary. Here she tells us about motivating officials, how her private secretary snuck her into a global trade conference, and why the civil service must pay "fair wages" to its staff

Royal United Services Institute says protection of Ministry of Defence budget alone may not be enough to safeguard against wider threats

New watchdog the Single Source Regulations Office seeks to overhaul MoD deals with single-source contractors

As co-founders of the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership, the Ministry of Defence is at the forefront of efforts to tackle the rising threat of cyber attack. Sarah Aston talks to the MoD’s cyber industry deputy head Daniel Selman

Simon McDonald, UK ambassador to Germany since 2010, to take up post as FCO's most senior official from September

Justice department to run policy fellowships to expand “pool of people” delivering extensive reform programme

When Foreign Office letters on a plan to move the entire population of  Hong Kong to Northern Ireland turned up at the National Archives, many media outlets failed to spot the hoax. Former FCO official David Snoxell shares the story behind the correspondence, and warns against humour-free diplomacy