The article focuses on those aspects of the Commission's activities that are the most innovative within a global context and have the most to offer to international debates about the governance of security. The article highlights three features of the Commission's proposals: a policing rather than a police board, functional rather than institutional budgets, and the notion of operational independence with operational responsibility. The Commission's proposals provide a set of suggested responses to normative concerns that can be explored within other arenas of governance, for example: education, health, and environmental regulation. Its proposals seek to devolve control so as to make democracy more participatory while at the same time providing for accountability and transparency at more central levels. The Commission did not explore the variety of ways in which its framework could be used to address other issues either within Northern Ireland or more globally. For example, it did not explicitly deal with the development of private security. Notes