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This case study, while standing on its own, builds on issues raised in ''Ministerial Appointments and the Security Services'' (797-008-1). The context here is the post Cold War era. Students will be required to focus on issues to do with "national security", the security services and democracy in a situation very different to that prevailing in the 1960s. The case requires students to consider whether it is legitimate for the security services to ''investigate'' the background of individuals and, in particular, those people who are likely to occupy high positions in government. It also requires students to consider how far the security services should be allowed to go in obtaining such information, and who should authorise such investigations. Finally, it requires students to think about the meaning of such concepts as "national security" in the modern era. The case would be useful in any undergraduate course in British politics but might also be used in courses dealing in unusual ways with questions to do with democratic theory. Taught in the context of a wider course on democracy or human rights the case will certainly sustain active discussion for a two-hour period, although a shorter period would be perfectly adequate.