It makes you wonder just how much of the "evidence" used in current secret courts would stand up to a transparent judicial process.

Which is indeed the point of the article I think.

Secret courts are an aberration to any civilised society.

England is at the forefront of such things in many areas - not just the dreaded terrorism. The Family Courts routinely operate in secret with it being a criminal offence to report on their activities or even any of the people involved. Recent examples are a woman who was sentenced to prison in absentia for taking her father out a care home to go on holiday - she was arrested on her return and taken straight to prison as she had already been sentenced to 5 months. It was a further offence for her to even tell people /why/ she was in prison !

Only after diplomatic intervention was an Italian woman able to reveal one of these secret courts had forced a cesarian on her and the removal of her baby after she had been treated for depression. Social workers used the secret courts to sieze the child and then to try and prevent her publicising the injustice. This became a serious diplomatic incident once the Italian authorities found out about it.[http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/dec/03/forced-caesar...]

There are hundreds of examples of secret courts making outrageous decisions but very few ever make it into the papers due to the knee-jerk imprisonment meted out for any discussion of the cases.

Some small hope has recently arisen as the new president of the court had indicated he does not agree with the total secrecy but it is too early to tell if there really will be any rolling back as it has become a comfortable area to operate for public bodies who know they not only get to operate without oversight but can vexatiously imprison anyone who tries to argue they have overstepped their authority (or common sense).

[edit: minor corrections and link to article on Italian woman]

I have a theory that the strength of the evidence and secrecy with which it is held are not unrelated.

According to the footer, "Robert Harris is the author of a forthcoming novel about Georges Picquart, “An Officer and a Spy.” ".

Actually, it appears to be out since September: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00COMWJG0/

It looks like it came out only in the UK in September on paper, but the ebook launch wasn't region-restricted, so it's already available on U.S. Kindles. But if you look at the U.S. dead-tree editions, January 2014 is the U.S. hardcover and July 2014 the U.S. paperback.

Any recommendations on a good book-length account of the Dreyfus Affair? I've read the chapter in Tuchman's Proud Tower. I've always loved her books, but this is just a short chapter in a longer book. (I also read Shirer's Third Republic, but that was so long ago I don't remember. It was just a chapter also.)

Bredin's 1983 The Affair is really seen as the most thorough account. My favourite reading of the affair is actually In Search of Lost Time, as Proust shows the split in society during this period over the second and third (perhaps the fourth too I think?) volumes.

Thanks. I might have to check out Bredin

(Proust, at 4k pages, is perhaps too long! :-) But I appreciate the recommendation. That split in society was emphasized by Tuchman, as I recall.)

Proust is shorter than "The War of the Roses, WITH DRAGONS!", and plenty of people have ploughed through that.

It's not too long. :)

This link worked for me to bypass the paywall: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/opinion/the-whistle-blower...

Thank goodness I'm always curious why half the links where don't work for me.