British state turf wars

["Michael Keaney" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Security service 'turf wars' hamper war against crime

 By Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent

 The Independent, 28 August 2001

 Turf wars and rivalry between
 Britain's intelligence agencies are
 damaging the fight against
 organised crime, a confidential
 report by the former head of MI6
 has found.

 "Fragmented and user-hostile communications" were also said
 to be undermining the work of MI5, MI6, Customs, the National
 Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS), the National Crime Squad
 (NCS), GCHQ spying centres, and the police.

 The unpublished "restricted" report, details of which have been
 obtained by The Independent, also reveals that the secret
 services MI5 and MI6 plan to tackle cocaine and heroin
 trafficking between international drug gangs and British street
 dealers.

 The report by Sir David Spedding, the former head of MI6 who
 died from cancer in June aged 58, said some intelligence on
 organised crime that was meant to be passed to other
 agencies had been "perfunctory, delayed or insufficiently
 informative".

 The Home Office commissioned the so-called Spedding report
 to examine the gathering and dissemination of intelligence by
 the main agencies and to discover whether there were any
 "barriers" to this work. One of its key recommendations -
 already implemented - was to hand the key role of
 co-ordinating intelligence strategy to the National Criminal
 Intelligence Service.

 The battle against serious and organised crime has
 concentrated on key criminals and obtaining intelligence on
 their operations. The Government wants the law enforcement
 agencies to provide a more effective and united force.

 Sir David concludes that there are "worrying signs" of agencies
 showing "restlessness or impatience" with "the joint approach
 to work against serious and organised crime".

Full article at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=90954

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx