Hoffmann was involved in three important judgments of the House of Lords concerning terrorism: "Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman" UKHL 47; "A v Secretary of State for the Home Department" [2004 UKHL 56; and "A v. Secretary of State for the Home Department" UKHL 71. In "Rehman", at para 62, he wrote:Postscript. I wrote this speech some three months before the recent events in New York and Washington. They are a reminder that in matters of national security, the cost of failure can be high. This seems to me to underline the need for the judicial arm of government to respect the decisions of ministers of the Crown on the question of whether support for terrorist activities in a foreign country constitutes a threat to national security. It is not only that the executive has access to special information and expertise in these matters. It is also that such decisions, with serious potential results for the community, require a legitimacy which can be conferred only by entrusting them to persons responsible to the community through the democratic process. If the people are to accept the consequences of such decisions, they must be made by persons whom the people have elected and whom they can remove.