The Problem of Access: Site Visits, Selective Disclosure, and Freedom of Information in Qualitative Security Research

Belcher, O; Martin, L

The Problem of Access: Site Visits, Selective Disclosure, and Freedom of Information in Qualitative Security Research

Belcher, O; Martin, L

Authors

Dr Oliver Belcher oliver.belcher@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Dr Lauren Martin lauren.martin@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Contributors

M de Goede
Editor

E Bosma
Editor

P Pallister-Wilkins
Editor

Abstract

This chapter addresses in relation to secrecy and methods is how to examine these “postsecret” places by using a wide range of data sources, some of which may be considered unorthodox by traditional social scientific standards. It offers some guidelines regarding how one might go about conducting research on secret sites. The chapter looks at the outset that not every formerly secret site would qualify as postsecret. It discusses the idea of postsecrecy and this idea through a short mapping of Orford Ness. During the Cold War, Orford Ness was a key testing ground for Britain’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and home of the elusive Anglo-American radar intelligence operation known as Cobra Mist. The idea of postsecrecy builds on an important in secrecy research that questions the standard and sometimes cliched binaries by which secrecy has usually been understood, such as secrecy vs publicity, visibility vs invisibility, open vs closed.

Citation

Belcher, O., & Martin, L. (2019). The Problem of Access: Site Visits, Selective Disclosure, and Freedom of Information in Qualitative Security Research. In M. de Goede, E. Bosma, & P. Pallister-Wilkins (Eds.), Secrecy and methods in critical security research (33-47). Routledge

Acceptance Date	May 1, 2018
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2019
Deposit Date	Feb 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Jul 6, 2023
Publisher	Routledge
Pages	33-47
Book Title	Secrecy and methods in critical security research.
ISBN	9780367027230