Central Intelligence Assessment
From SR
Roles
The Joint Intelligence Committee is supported by the Assessments Staff is responsible for drafting assessments of situations and issues of current concern, for providing warnings of threats to British interests, and for identifying and monitoring countries at risk of instability. Its staff draw on a range of reporting, primarily from the Agencies but also including UK diplomatic reporting and open source material.
Structure
It consists of a range of analytical staff seconded from various departments, services and disciplines.
The Assessments Staff works closely with the Agencies and other government departments in analysing and interpreting the reporting. Its draft assessments are subject to formal interdepartmental scrutiny in Current Intelligence Groups, which bring together experts from a range of government departments and the Agencies. The JIC agrees most assessments before they are circulated to Ministers and senior officials, although some papers, including urgent updates on developing issues, are issued under the authority of the Chief of the Assessments Staff. The latter also has an advisory oversight role of the programme of strategic assessments undertaken across Government in the security, defence and foreign affairs fields.
Like the three Agencies and the DIS, the Assessments Staff maintains its own contacts with analogous overseas intelligence organisations. Such liaison arrangements allow access to information and analysis that might otherwise not be available. In the case of countries with which the UK has military alliances or faces a common threat, information is shared so that decisions can be taken on the basis of a common perception.
