The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
233.
Sir Nigel
Sheinwald visited CPA(South) in early November.162
During the
visit
a number
of issues were raised by civilian secondees,
including:
“•
Insufficient
security support, limiting mobility of CPA staff (currently only
eight
protected
vehicles for over 60 staff requiring transport).
•
Inadequate
succession planning (the much praised DoH team
particularly
complained
of this).
•
Over‑reliance
on TA soldiers to perform specialist civilian jobs.”
234.
On 11
November, Sir Michael Jay advised Permanent Secretaries and
the heads
of
organisations with secondees in Iraq that the FCO was considering
“on a contingency
basis –
whether it would make sense to reduce the numbers of civilian staff
if the
security
situation were to deteriorate; and, if so, which staff we should
retain in those
235.
Sir Michael
reported that, in Baghdad, following the recommendations of
the
review of
accommodation after the al‑Rashid Hotel bombing, the FCO was
pursuing
urgently
the possibility of constructing accommodation in the basement of
the Green
Zone
Convention Centre. The work could take two to three months, but the
FCO was
pressing
hard for it to be ready before Christmas. In the meantime it was
looking at
interim
arrangements.
236.
Sir Michael
explained that, to ensure security measures were
implemented
effectively
and threat information disseminated promptly, the FCO had set
up
co‑ordination
structures in London, Baghdad and Basra:
“The London
Iraq Security Committee, chaired by the FCO, meets once a week
with
a secure
video link to Baghdad (to be joined by Basra when their video
equipment
has been
installed). Jeremy Greenstock chairs a UK security committee in
Baghdad
which is
linked into a wider CPA security committee. A similar committee is
being set
up in
Basra. Security issues are also discussed at Cabinet Office
meetings including
COBR, the
group of senior officials chaired by Nigel Sheinwald [ISOG] and
the
Ad Hoc
Ministerial Group [AHMGIR], which the Foreign Secretary
chairs.”
237.
Sir Andrew
Turnbull and Mr Gus O’Donnell, Treasury Permanent
Secretary,
discussed
UK civilian secondees on 11 November. They agreed that there were
roles
in the
provisional administration in Iraq that would need to continue to
be filled, but that
security
must be tightened appropriately.164
238.
On 14
November, Mr Drummond approved an expansion of DFID’s contract
with
CRG for
“security support services” in Basra and Baghdad.165
The number
of CRG
162
Letter
Cannon to Owen, 13 November 2003, ‘Iraq: Nigel Sheinwald’s Visit:
Operational Issues’.
163
Letter Jay
to Chakrabarti, 11 November 2003, ‘Security of UK Civilian
Secondees in Iraq’.
164
Minute
[unattributed and undated], ‘Sir Andrew Turnbull’s Bilateral
with Gus O’Donnell
11 November
2003’.
165
Manuscript
comment Drummond, 14 November 2003, on Minute Iraq Directorate
[junior official] to
Drummond,
31 October 2003, ‘Iraq – the extension of security support services
for Baghdad and Basra’.
284