Busting myths about Coulson’s security vetting

A recent turn in “Hackgate” has focused on the level of security clearance given to Andy Coulson. The insinuation is that Number 10 knew that Coulson would not be able to pass the so-called Developed Vetting level (DV) and therefore gave him a lower level. I have no idea what happened in No 10, or whether the allegations made against Coulson automatically disqualified him from obtaining DV level. But having been vetted several times, I can’t help but disagree with the way the story has been covered by some organisations.

First, Coulson was, as far as I can gather, vetted to the Security Check (SC) level. That is not ‘the basic level of security vetting,’ as David Cameron and the Guardian have claimed. The basic level is called CTC or Counter Terrorist Check. When I asked somebody what it meant, I was told that you could be trusted not to blow yourself up at work.