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--- Begin Message ----Caveat Lector- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/kelly/story/0,13747,1120532,00.html Hutton: spy chiefs face reform over Iraq fiasco.Move to end political spin on intelligence .Angry Campbell defends role in dossier Peter Beaumont and Gaby Hinsliff Sunday January 11, 2004 The Observer A massive shake-up of the way the Government handles secret intelligence in order to prevent its creeping politicisation is to be launched in the wake of the Hutton inquiry. The radical reforms will overhaul the role of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), which drew up the infamous dossier on Iraq's banned weapons of mass destruction that lies at the heart of the judicial inquiry. They emerged amid fresh uproar triggered by Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's former director of communications, who claimed yesterday that 'there was no naming strategy' to identify weapons scientist David Kelly as the likely source of the BBC's allegations last year that Downing Street spiced up the dossier. In an outspoken defence of his actions in advance of Lord Hutton's findings, Campbell dismissed revelations that he had requested 15 changes to the dossier being drawn up by JIC chairman John Scarlett. Insisting that while 'we can dance on pinheads till the cows come home', he said the changes - which critics argue dramatically strengthened the dossier - were not hugely significant: 'It does not represent in quotes a "sexing-up" or a "transformation". It is me saying, "This is less clear than that," or, "This is expressed slightly differently to where you've expressed it here."' However, his comments - pounced on yesterday by the Tories, who accused him of spinning himself out of trouble in defiance of his own evidence to Hutton - drive a coach and horses through Downing Street's previous policy of shunning comment on the affair so as not to pre-empt the inquiry. Last night, a poll for the Mail on Sunday found only one in four voters believes Tony Blair told the truth in saying he had not authorised the leaking of David Kelly's name: almost half blamed the Government most for Kelly's death, followed by the Commons select committee who questioned him, with the BBC well behind. To prevent such politically damaging rows in future, officials are now planning widespread changes to the JIC, the group of intelligence officials, Ministers and senior civil servants that advises the Prime Minister on material produced by MI5, MI6, the Defence Intelligence staff and GCHQ. They will insist on a sharp separation between material as presented to the JIC by the intelligence services, and its presentation to the public, erecting 'Chinese walls' between the secret services and spin doctors. So-called 'ownership' of the intelligence product would rest with the intelligence services, ensuring it continued to be viewed in context rather than cherry-picked for political effect. Ownership of the dossier was a key issue in the Hutton inquiry: while emails stressed it lay with John Scarlett, critics have argued that he had grown too close to Campbell. The reforms would also rule out purely political appointees who are neither Crown nor civil servants - such as Campbell - sitting on the committee. 'The idea is that intelligence should be seen in the context in which it was gathered,' said one familiar with the suggested reforms. 'It should be logical and procedure-based, and its veracity should be tested more.' A second proposal includes ensuring the committee is chaired by a senior civil servant rather than member of the intelligence services, Foreign Office or Ministry of Defence. Liam Fox, the Conservative Party co-chairman, said Campbell's self-defence was belied by extracts from his own diaries, submitted to the Hutton inquiry, revealing how he and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon had 'wanted to get it out that someone had broken cover' and that 'the biggest thing needed was the source out'. 'What are they trying to cover up?' Fox demanded last night. 'Alastair Campbell should now therefore clarify which set of statements is correct - his statement that "what we wanted was the name out" or his statement in a newspaper that "there was no strategy".' The row will encourage the Tories, who plan to build on last week's dramatic ambush of the Prime Minister by Michael Howard over whether he had authorised the identification of David Kelly. They have collated many apparent inconsistencies in testimony from key figures, including Campbell, which they hope to highlight in the run-up to the report's publication later this month. Testifying to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Campbell suggested he had seen JIC intelligence assessments while working on the dossier. Yet, giving evidence to Hutton, he said that he had not. His access to highly secret material was signifi cant because he had said he was involved purely in presentation, rather than in analysing the material itself. Blair was facing growing pressure last night to promise a vote on the Hutton report when it is debated in the Commons, to give MPs a chance to pass their own verdict. 'If they were that confident they would want to have a vote,' said Oliver Heald, Shadow Leader of the Commons. 'The whole thing reeks of a government running scared.' Downing Street refused to say yesterday whether there would be a vote. But one senior source said it would depend on the findings: 'What do they think we might be voting on?' Last night it emerged Lord Hutton had complained in a letter to the Tory MP Peter Lilley of being sent notes made by Private Secretaries which were 'sparse and of no relevance'. He was also not given the transcript of Blair's in-flight press conference last July during which he denied leaking David Kelly's name. The spotlight will turn this week to the role of the BBC, with the publication of a blueprint under which its governors would be elected rather than made up of political appointees in order to prevent bias. Broadcasters may face criticism from Hutton over their handling of the dossier story, including whether governors were fully briefed on possible flaws in it before backing the BBC against Downing Street. A book to be published by the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank on Tues day, part-funded by the BBC, will call for the governors to be chosen by an electoral college of interested parties instead. 'There is a pressing need to make regulation more transparent,' said author Jamie Cowling. 'We don't think it is appropriate to appoint the board of governors because there is a possibility that, precisely because they are appointed, they feel it more necessary to demonstrate their independence from Government.' Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who will attend the report's launch, is reviewing the BBC's charter and is expected to study the blueprint closely. The Tories will pile on the pressure tomorrow by introducing measures as a backbench Commons Bill to protect the Civil Service from interference. They are also demanding assurances that they will receive Hutton's report 24 hours before it is published. -__ ___ _ ___ __ ___ _ _ _ __ /-_|-0-\-V-/-\|-|-__|-|-|-/-_| \_-\--_/\-/|-\\-|-_||-V-V-\_-\ |__/_|--//-|_|\_|___|\_A_/|__/ SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter and discussion list associated to Mario's Cyberspace Station - The Global Intelligence News Portal http://mprofaca.cro.net ######## CAUTION! ######### Since you are receiving and reading documents, news stories, comments and opinions not only from so called (or self-proclaimed) "reliable sources", but also a lot of possible misinformation collected by Spy News moderator and subscribers and posted to Spy News for OSINT purposes - it should be a serious reason (particularly to journalists and web publishers) to think twice before using it for their story writing, further publishing or forwarding throughout Cyberspace. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------------------------------- SPY NEWS home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spynews Mario Profaca http://mprofaca.cro.net/ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spynews/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceâ??not soap-boxingâ??please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'â??with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâ??is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
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