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Parliament’s spy agency watchdog has complained that MI5, MI6, GCHQ and other spy agencies it oversees failed to respond to its inquiries in time – meaning work on the investigation into Iran was delayed.
The all-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) also warned that ministers had failed to broaden its remit to include growing intelligence activities within government departments, leading to “really troubling” gaps in oversight.
Members of the ISC said responses to its inquiry had been “seriously hampered over the past year” by Britain’s spy agencies’ failure to “meet standard deadlines”. He had earlier pardoned spy agencies because of the pandemic, but said the problem continued.
He also warned that if the committee’s oversight was frustrated it would “give no assurance to the public or Parliament that the intelligence agencies are functioning properly”. The organization said it had called on Britain’s spy chiefs to “account for these failures” and “reassure the right way forward”.
Members launched an investigation into Iran in November 2021, but complained that “initial evidence was insufficient” and asked for more information from intelligence agencies. But by the end of March 2022, when the report was compiled, this had not been achieved.
Iran is seen as a growing threat in the UK. In November, the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, warned that Tehran had made at least 10 threats this year to kidnap or kill people it deemed “enemies of the regime” in the UK.
His other complaint was that intelligence and security activities were “increasingly delegated to policy departments” without any extension of the committee’s mandate through appropriate legislation.
The result, the committee said in its annual report released on Tuesday, was the “absence of proper scrutiny, which can only be carried out by the ISC”, which the members concluded was “truly troubling”.
Government units whose work has classified aspects not covered by ISC oversight include: the Investment Protection Unit in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; Counter-Disinformation Unit in the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport; the Transportation Security, Resilience and Response Group at the Department of Transportation; Intelligence Policy Division in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; and the Joint Biosecurity Center at the Department of Health and Social Care.
Committee members said they had repeatedly raised concerns but were dismissed by officials. In January, then national security adviser Stephen Lovegrove told committee chair Julian Lewis that ministers were not bound by previous assurances to continue updating the committee’s remit.
Unlike parliamentary select committees, the ISC is a special committee created by two Acts to scrutinize the work of Britain’s spy agencies. It conducts inquiries and holds secret meetings, but publishes redacted reports – with Downing Street’s approval – on topics of interest such as Russia, China and far-right terrorism.
The nine-member committee is chaired by Lewis, a Conservative, who was elected with the support of Labor and members of the Scottish National Party in opposition to Chris Grayling, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate. It was felt that Grayling would not be independent enough as Prime Minister.
Parts of the document are approved by the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, before the annual report is made public to ensure there are no national security concerns. But the report was held up for several months as final approval was sought and published before the end of the parliamentary year.
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