The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
26.
Telegrams to
and from individual posts were numbered sequentially through
the
calendar
year, starting with “TELNO 1” on 1 January.
27.
All telegrams
included a date time group using Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT).
A telegram
from the British Embassy Washington sent on “170356Z JULY 03”
refers to
a telegram
sent at 3.56am GMT on 17 July 2003 (11.56pm on 16 July in
Washington;
4.56am on
17 July in London).
28.
A precedence
marking signified the urgency of the telegram. “FLASH”
indicated
a telegram
to be seen immediately by the recipient. A telegram marked
“DESKBY
170600Z”
was to be available to the recipient at 6.00am GMT. The other
designations
were
“IMMEDIATE”, “PRIORITY” and “ROUTINE”.
29.
The FCO phased
out telegrams during 2005. They were replaced by
eGrams.
30.
The eGram,
which replaced FCO telegrams during 2005, was used for
significant
communications
and formed part of the FCO official record. It offered much of
the
flexibility
of an email, including the ability to add attachments.
31.
Unlike
telegrams, each eGram was assigned a unique number in a single
FCO-wide
sequence
starting at midnight GMT on 31 December. Paris eGram 127/06 to the
FCO
was not the
127th eGram from Paris, but the 127th eGram sent on the system in
2006.
32.
Letters
between named individuals sent electronically using the FCO
telegram
system.
Phased out in 2005.
33.
Reports from
officials at the end of a tour of duty as the head of an overseas
post.
34.
Valedictories
sent by UK military commanders at the end of a tour of duty in
Iraq.
35.
Routine formal
communication between government departments is often
conducted by
means of a letter from one Ministerial Private Secretary to
another. Such
letters
should be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Minister, not
of the signatory.
The
importance of an issue can often be inferred from the seniority of
the Private
Secretary.
For instance, a letter from one Principal Private Secretary to
another would
usually
hold more weight than a letter from one junior Minister’s Private
Secretary
to another.
328