I am an information security expert and I asked to see the guidance,

written by CESG, under which my personal data is to be held by
government on the forthcoming National Identity Register. I was refused on the grounds the freedom of Information Act does not apply to CESG.

It's completely bizarre that the government insists on holding _our_
information and yet it won't allow us to see how it intends to protect
this whilst holding it. It's not as if there havent been any problems.

Wouldn't it be better if the government were open about its information security procedures so we could form a view as to whether they were robust, and we could hold it accountable in the event of further
failures to protect our personal data.