National-security limits in open parliamentary hearings

How can MPs pursue sensitive defence questions in open session despite national-security limits?

Specific operational questions can be refused, but careful wording may avoid the formal boundary, a practice with a long parliamentary precedent.

Defence chiefs can refuse questions that cross a clear national-security line, especially when they concern specific operations. Skilled MPs can phrase a question so that it technically avoids those protected details while still approaching sensitive ground. A closed session is the more sensible venue for such scrutiny. Open questioning nevertheless has a long precedent, including interwar committees whose exchanges were reported in the next day's newspapers.