The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
reasons why
people were very unwilling to actually conclude: no … we may
have
miscalculated,
or misassessed this.”53
84.
Asked about
his views on Sir David Omand’s comment from the standpoint of
the
JIC, Sir
John Scarlett (Chairman of the JIC from 2001 to 2004)
replied:
“I think
what David was referring to there was the situation in January and
February
2003, when
UNMOVIC [the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and
Inspection
Commission]
were not finding things, and so the reaction might have been: well,
why
is that?
But the reaction was: well it’s there. This just goes to show that
UNMOVIC
aren’t much
use and we will find it.”54
85.
In a letter to
Mr Hoon on 17 September 2002, Sir Kevin Tebbit wrote:
“I also
counselled against excessive briefings of the Prime Minister by
the
intelligence
agencies, when it was evident that their input could be transmitted
in
written
form and his time could be better spent with those Ministers (ie
you and the
Foreign
Secretary) in the small groups needed to decide executive action or
give
86.
The Ministry
of Defence (MOD) is both a Department of State and a
Military
Strategic
Headquarters.
87.
The Defence
Secretary is responsible for the formulation and conduct of
defence
policy and
chairs the Defence Council, which provides the formal legal basis
for the
conduct of
Defence in the UK.
88.
The Defence
Council has a range of powers vested in it by Parliament
(through
statute)
and, under Letters Patent issued by Her Majesty The Queen,
exercises on Her
behalf the
function of the Royal Prerogative, including committing the Armed
Forces to
89.
The Defence
Secretary has two principal advisers: the PUS and the Chief of
the
Defence
Staff (CDS).57
They are
separately responsible for ensuring that sound and
timely
advice reaches Ministers.58
90.
The PUS is the
Secretary of the Defence Council.
53
Public
hearing, 20 January 2010, pages 63-64.
54
Private
hearing, 5 May 2010, page 36.
55
Minute
Tebbit to Secretary of State [MOD], 17 September 2002, ‘Iraq:
Machinery of Government’.
56
Ministry of
Defence, The New
Defence Operating Model, Version
3.0: December 2012, page 18.
57
Ministry of
Defence, Annual
Report and Accounts 2002-03, page
145.
58
Ministry of
Defence, Defence
Framework – How Defence Works, September
2008, pages 11-12.
282