2 |
Decision-making within government
and
intelligence issues … the Security and Intelligence Co-ordinator
does not attend
Cabinet and
is not part of the Cabinet Secretariat supporting Cabinet Ministers
in
discharging
their collective responsibilities in defence and overseas policy
matters.
We
understand that the Intelligence and Security Committee will
shortly review how
this
arrangement has worked.”18
39.
Asked about
his dual role in relation to the Chairman of the JIC, Sir
David Omand
told the
Inquiry that the Butler Report had commented that “as a result” of
his
appointment,
the “Cabinet Secretary is no longer so directly involved in the
chain
through
which intelligence reaches the Prime Minister” but that: “It
wouldn’t be correct
to assume
that any Cabinet Secretary had been in the loop in the provision of
advice on
assessed
intelligence.”19
That had
always been “a duty that had fallen on the Chairman
of the
JIC”. Sir David told the Inquiry that a condition of appointment
had been that he
“would not
interpose his judgement on the content of the
intelligence”.
40.
Sir David told
the Inquiry that his role in relation to the intelligence community
was
to “make
sure it was in good health, argue for its resources and negotiate
those with
the
Treasury, ensure that the Agencies were working together, try to
generate some
efficiencies
and be on the look out … for new ways in which the community could
be
41.
The Cabinet
Office contains the Cabinet Secretariats, which support the
Cabinet
and Cabinet
Committees, and draw staff from across government.21
In the
period from
2001 to
2003, the Overseas and Defence Secretariat (OD Sec)22
was
responsible for
foreign and
defence policy issues, including Iraq.23
42.
In 2001 and
2002, of about a dozen staff in OD Sec, only two covered
Iraq.24
In
both
cases, Iraq
was one part of their job.
43.
Sir David
Manning became Mr Blair’s Foreign Policy Adviser and Head of OD Sec
in
September
2001. That marked a change from previous arrangements, in which the
two
roles had
been held by two different individuals.
18
Review of
Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction [“The
Butler Report”], 14 July 2004, HC 898.
Page
147.
19
Public
hearing, 20 January 2010, pages 3-4.
20
Public
hearing, 20 January 2010, page 5.
21
Statement
McKane, 8 December 2010, page 1.
22
Later
renamed the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat (F&DP Sec)
and now part of the National
Security
Secretariat.
23
Public
hearing Manning, 30 November 2009, pages 44-45.
24
Public
hearing McKane, 19 January 2011, pages 2-3.
273