Why executive branches are best placed to gauge national security risks

Ronny Tong, SC, was chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1999 to 2001, and was first elected a member of the Legislative Council in 2004.The recent enactment of a subsidiary legislation in Hong Kong regarding the appropriate procedure to be followed in cases of non-national security offences involving national security considerations not surprisingly spurred some to revisit the chief executive’s power, granted under the national security law in 2020, to issue a certificate as to whether an act involves issues of national security.That some people express concern that such an important task is left to the executive and not the judiciary is understandable only because they have failed to understand the governing rationale behind this distinction.Many common law jurisdictions accept that the court is not an appropriate forum to determine matters of national security. Note that I am referring to national security issues and NOT national security offences. There is a vital difference.