'Fight Smart' - 22 July 2007

Don't Take the Bait - Fight Smart
ANIMATED 911 SUMMARY - CLICK HERE
Who is the enemy?

Rogue State Britain
MI6 As Agent For Big Oil
The Hidden Powers Behind British Foreign Policy
John Scarlett's Evil Empire
www.nlpwessex.org/docs/watscarlett.htm
New Allegations Emerge About Post Cold-War
MI6-BP Sponsored Coup D'Etat In Azerbaijan

Now New Allegations From A Former BP Insider Reveal More Of Scarlett's Track Record
In Subversive 'Regime Change' Activities

"BP executives working for Lord Browne spent millions of pounds on champagne-fuelled sex parties to help secure lucrative international oil contracts. The company also worked with MI6 to help bring about changes in foreign governments, according to an astonishing account of life inside the oil giant [...according to] Les Abrahams, who led BP's successful bid for a multi-million-pound deal with one of the former Soviet republics [Azerbaijan] ... While employed by BP, Mr Abrahams says he was persuaded to work for MI6 by John Scarlett .... Some of Mr Abrahams' most intriguing claims surround the alleged co-operation between BP and the British intelligence services to secure a more pro-Western, pro-business regime in the country. He says the operation, masterminded by Scarlett in Moscow, contributed to the coup in May 1992 which saw President Ayaz Mutalibov toppled by Abulfaz Elchibey, and then to a second change a year later which saw Haydar Aliyev take power. Just months after Aliyev was installed, BP signed the so-called 'contract of the century', a £5 billion deal which placed BP at the head of an oil exporting consortium. ..... 'BP supported both coups, both through discreet moves and open political support. Our progress on the oil contracts improved considerably after the coups.' [said Abrahams] Subsequently released Turkish secret service documents claimed BP had discussed an 'arms for oil' deal with the assistance of MI6, under which the company would use intermediaries to supply weapons to Aliyev's supporters in return for the contract... When the documents emerged in 2000, BP denied supplying arms - although sources admitted its representatives had 'discussed the possibility'.... [T]he Foreign Office said of Mr Abrahams' claims: 'We neither confirm nor deny anyone's allegations in relation to intelligence matters.'"
Hookers, spies, cases full of dollars... how BP spent £45m to win 'Wild East' oil rights
Daily Mail, 12 May 2007

Above - The 12 May 2007 article which revealed new allegations of MI6's foreign-government regime change efforts on behalf of British oil company BP in Azerbaijan. The operation is reported to have been mastermined by then MI6 Moscow station chief John Scarlett. Scarlett later became responsible for regime change in Iraq (another Islamic country with important oil reserves which BP has ambitions to exploit), as a result of his authorship of the infamous 'Dodgy Dossier' of September 2002. Including their predecessors, MI6 and BP have been playing together at this ruthless values-free secret game for the best part of a century. The latest disclosures come from Les Abrahams, a former BP manager in Azerbaijan. They follow less detailed allegations of  BP's 'arms for oil' coup activities in Azerbaijan previously reported by the Sunday Times.

Click here to view screen-save of above article published 12 May 2007 on Mail web site Click here to view screen-save of extended version of the article published 20 May 2007 on Mail web site Html copies of the articles can be also viewed at the following sites: 12 May 2007 version - Click Here or Here 13 May 2007 version (same content as 12 May) - Click Here or Here (bottom of page) 20 May 2007 extended version  - Click Here (includes article photographs) or Here and Here and Here BP denies to Azeri-Press Agency the allegations made by Les Abrahams  - Click Here

"Lord Browne, chief executive of BP and one of New Labour's favourite industrialists, has warned Washington not to carve up Iraq for its own oil companies in the aftermath of any future war. The comments from the most senior European oil executive.... will ... serve to underline concern that the US is primarily concerned with seizing control of Saddam Hussein's oil and handing it over to companies such as ExxonMobil rather than destroying his weapons of mass destruction..... Lord Browne's views will be listened to carefully in Downing Street because the BP executive team has such close links with the UK government that it was once dubbed Blair Petroleum." BP chief fears US will carve up Iraqi oil riches Guardian, 30 October 2002 "A representative for Hands Off Iraqi Oil (HOIO) said that an Iraqi oil law could mean that international companies may receive full control of Iraqi oil fields for more than two decades, Iraq Directory reported. It was also mentioned that Shell Company has been working hand in hand with the United States and Britain to arrange an international policy to permit multinational companies to receive solitary control of Iraq's oil fields. A lobby has been set up who is represented by major energy companies such as BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Total and ENI, and has been advised by the British government on approaches for persuading the Iraqi regime." International oil companies could receive sole control of Iraq's oil Middle East North Africa Financial Network, 21 May 2007 "Hassan Jumaa Awad al Assadi, the head of the Iraqi oil workers' union, was in London last week campaigning against a new law which, he says, will give the oil giants unprecedented rights to his country's vast reserves....  'One of our criticisms is the way the law was proposed - under a veil of secrecy.'... Al Assadi warned any multinationals planning to invest in the country that they could face fierce opposition from the Iraqi people. 'I have warned the oil companies before, there will be some consequences,' he said." Fight for control: Iraq oil under pressure Observer, 15 July 2007 "An agreement on how to divide oil profits among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish areas is one of 18 key benchmarks of progress to be reviewed by the U.S. in September. More than 90 percent of Iraq's revenue comes from the export of oil. But the report, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says the issues the three sides are too far apart to agree on are the 'role of foreign companies in the oil sector;' and the division of the oil profits. The report also includes a grim assessment of the possibility of an increase of oil output in Iraq despite its huge reserves. It concludes that security in Iraq is so unstable 'it is unlikely that any major foreign oil company will be able to invest in Iraq during 2008 (unless they are heavily underwritten by the U.S. government).' The report says the Kurds favor foreign oil companies playing a larger role, but that is opposed by many Shi'a in the south 'because of a fear they will lose control of their assets to outsiders.'" Secret Report: No Iraq Oil Deal by September ABC News, 20 July 2007

MI6 And Big Business

"Duplicity and chicanery are their stock-in-trade, so is it any surprise that spies sometimes break their own rules? More surprising is the mess that [MI6] the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) has made of dealing with Richard Tomlinson, a renegade spook whom it fired in 1995. Running a secret intelligence organisation is a difficult business, now that the moral discipline of the cold war has crumbled: when spying for your country is about making its big businesses richer, rather than subverting totalitarianism, patriotism may not be enough to keep a disgruntled ex-employee quiet."
Breach birth
The Economist, 25 January 2001

"A retired MI6 officer has been appointed to a top post at BP-Amoco, the British-based oil company..... John Gerson was director of security and public affairs at the agency and was embroiled in attempts to suppress disclosures by the former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson. Mr Gerson took early retirement from what was effectively the post of deputy head of MI6 at the end of last year. Last month he became one of BP's vice-presidents for government and public affairs. His appointment was approved by the cabinet secretary, Sir Richard Wilson. MI6 has close links with oil companies, the 'revolving door' syndrome, in the same way as armed forces officers have close links with defence companies. Rolls-Royce has employed former MI6 officers to help win contracts in the Middle East, and merchant banks have taken some on. During the first reading of the intelligence services bill, Lord Mackay, the conservative lord chancellor, told peers in 1994 that MI6 protected the 'economic wellbeing' of the country by keeping 'a particular eye on Britain's access to key commodities, like oil...'"
Former MI6 officer gets top post at BP
Guardian, 8 May 2000

"The problem is that because everything is so secret you don't know what's going on. Spies like my husband are asked to do things but they might not be told why, and so very often they can't see the bigger picture. This means that sometimes they don't know whether their actions are noble and resulting in good things ... or whether they are creating hostilities. There's often a lot of tension for them then, and I never knew how Harry would be when he returned from a job. My husband had to go off and do his job and I never knew how he was going to be when he came back."
'Nicky', Wife Of An MI6 Agent - Interview
The spy who loved me
Guardian, 24 January 2007

With The Latest MI6 Azerbaijani 'Oil-For-Arms' Coup Allegations From A Former BP Insider
How Much More Evidence Is Needed Before
This Ever-Present British Cancer Is Stopped From Spreading Its Corrosive Poison Further Into Relationships Within The Global Family Of Nations
As 'Peak Oil' Looms?

"Humanity is approaching an unprecedented crisis when not enough oil and gas will be produced to keep industrial civilisation running, the world's top oilmen  warned last week. The warning – which is being hailed as a 'tipping point' on both sides of  the Atlantic – marks the first time that the industry has accepted that it may soon no longer be able to meet demand for its products. In Facing the Hard Truths about Energy, it gives authoritative support to concern about impending shortages, following a similar alert by the International Energy Agency less than two weeks ago. The 420-page report, the most comprehensive study ever carried out into the industry, has been produced by the National Petroleum Council, a body of 175 authorities that reports to the US government. It includes the heads of the world's big oil companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum, Shell and BP. Oil and gas may run short by 2015, say industry experts.... It says that 'many observers think that 80 per cent of existing  oil production will need to be replaced by 2030' to keep up present supplies 'in addition to volumes required to meet existing demand.' But, it adds, there are  'accumulating risks to replacing current production and increasing supplies'.... And the crunch could  come sooner, with oil production becoming 'a significant challenge as  early as 2015'. This chimes with the International Energy Agency's prediction that oil  supplies could become 'extremely tight' in five years. Chris Skrebowski, editor of the Energy Institute's Petroleum Review, said the report's publication showed the industry 'fessing up that it really has a problem on its hands'. Until now, he said, 'companies, full of share options, have been terrified of frightening the markets' by revealing the truth."
Oil and gas may run short by 2015, say industry experts
Independent On Sunday, 22 July 2007

Scarlett And His Predecessors Have Been At It For Decades

'Our Values'
Oil, Arms, And Money

".....Tomlinson says that in 1993, MI6 helped British Aerospace [now BAE Systems] win a £500m deal to sell Hawk jets to Indonesia by supplying them with details of a competing bid from the French aircraft manufacturer, Dassault. Similar information was allegedly passed to help BAe win Hawk sales to Malaysia. Such covert gathering of economic and commercial information is nothing new. GCHQ and MI6 have being doing it for years."
Useless spies
Guardian, 23 March 2000

"At the heart of the Department of Justice investigation into BAE Systems will be a secret account held by the Bank of England on behalf of the Saudi Arabian Government. This escrow account is the conduit through which £43 billion has been passed to BAE over the past 22 years to pay for Tornado fighter jets and other military equipment. It was set up as part of the 1985 al-Yamamah oil-for-arms agreement between Britain and Saudi Arabia. Over the years the account has fallen into deficit but more recently has held a significant surplus. It is this surplus that has sparked the recent allegations of corruption in BAE’s dealings with the Saudis. Payments totalling more than £1 billion made to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Ambassador to the US, are believed to have come from this surplus at the request of the Saudi Government. The money was signed off by the Ministry of Defence, as agreed under the al-Yamamah contract, and transferred through BAE to the projects identified by the Saudis. In the case of Prince Bandar, the money is alleged to have been transferred to an account held by Riggs Bank in the US. The MoD claims that it is unaware of the existence of the account but government officials have confirmed its use. The account was set up because, in the1980s, Saudi Arabia paid for its arms with oil. It transferred oil production to BP and Shell and they paid cash into the Bank of England account. The money was then forwarded to BAE to pay for arms. When the price of oil slumped in the early 1990s the account fell into deficit, embarrassing the Saudis who were forced to make cash top-ups. Since then the account has been kept in surplus. In distributing the surplus, the Saudis have maintained the payment method agreed under al-Yamamah and that is why BAE has become embroiled. The DoJ investigation into BAE will therefore lead directly back to the MoD and a Bank of England account that the Government claims does not exist."
Secret account under spotlight
London Times, 27 June 2007

'No Lie Too Big' If There's Enough Oil At Stake

"It's a long way from Rothesay Academy to the art deco HQ of MI6 on the banks of the Thames at Vauxhall Cross. But Andrew Fulton did it. In fact, this gentlemanly, erudite son of a Scottish reverend rose so rapidly through the ranks of the Secret Intelligence Service that he became the sixth most powerful spy in the United Kingdom.  Today, Fulton faces losing his job as co-ordinator of Glasgow University's Lockerbie Trial Briefing Unit following investigations into his MI6 career. Revelations that he was one of the most glittering talents in MI6 have destroyed claims by the briefing unit that its self- appointed task of briefing the world's press over Lockerbie was carried out with the highest standards of impartiality and fairness... Fulton volunteered his services to the unit when he was asked by the university to join as a visiting professor to the School of Law. The work of the unit is funded by the university, although the US Justice Department's Office for the Victims of Crime and the Law Society of Scotland sponsored the production of a trial hand-book co-written by Fulton. The unit has given hundreds of briefings to journalists and coached a variety of news organisations, including the entire Washington press corps, on aspects of the trial. So far its website has received 1.7 million hits. .... Fulton, who has never practised law, is not listed as a certified lawyer in Scotland."
MI6 link to Lockerbie briefings
Sunday Herald, 21 May 2000

"A former Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated. The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.... The officer, who was a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, is supporting earlier claims by a former CIA agent that his bosses 'wrote the script' to incriminate Libya.... A source close to Megrahi's defence said: 'Britain and the US were telling the world it was Libya, but in their private communications they acknowledged that they knew it was the PFLP-GC [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command]'. 'The case is starting to unravel largely because when they wrote the script, they never expected to have to act it out. Nobody expected agreement for a trial to be reached, but it was, and in preparing a manufactured case, mistakes were made.'"
Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked
Scotsman, 28 August 2005

"It is more than 18 years since the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 killed 270 people in Lockerbie. Yet serious questions remain over who was behind the worst mass murder in British history..... Last week a Scottish judicial body ruled that Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was sentenced to 27 years in a Scottish prison for his role in the attack, might have been wrongly convicted....In November 1991 the Americans and British jointly accused the pair of the Lockerbie bombing ....last week, after a three-year investigation, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission announced that it was referring his case to the Scottish Court of Appeal. It dismissed claims by lawyers for Megrahi that vital evidence, including the circuit board from the Mebo timer, had been planted among the debris by police..... But, crucially, the commission did say it had identified six grounds where it believed a miscarriage of justice 'may have occurred'. While the commission has inexplicably refrained from publishing details of each of these grounds, it is clear that doubts about Gauci’s testimony form the core of its concerns."
Unpicking the Lockerbie truth
London Times, 1 July 2007

Downing St, The City Of London, And British Foreign Policy

"Police investigating the cash for honours scandal seized evidence that Downing Street had plotted to hand peerages to eight of the 12 businessmen who had bankrolled Labour’s 2005 election campaign. A draft honours list, drawn up in September 2005, showed that the plan to offer peerages to businessmen who had loaned Labour millions of pounds had involved twice as many lenders as previously disclosed.... The Sunday Times has also discovered that there was a second key piece of evidence – a diary kept by [biotechnology entrepreneur Sir Christopher] Evans that allegedly details a series of meetings at the House of Lords in 2004 with Lord Levy, Blair’s chief fundraiser, to discuss a peerage. One well-placed Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) source said the diary was 'dynamite' and provided 'spectacular' evidence of an alleged 'agreement' for Evans to be ennobled in return for a £1m loan. Evans’s name was removed from the honours list after Downing Street discovered that his company was the subject of an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. A CPS official said that these two pieces of evidence formed the core of the 16-month police investigation, which the Yard believed until recently would lead to charges against key Downing Street aides. However, the investigation was effectively halted at a meeting on July 4 when a leading government barrister, David Perry QC, ruled that the diary was not admissible as evidence....The CPS announced last week it would not be charging anyone.....  Government insiders revealed that the police were shocked at the decision not to prosecute. An official said the police and the CPS had worked side by side on the case for 18 months until there was a 'sudden change that pulled the plug'. The official said: 'All those eight people gave massive loans, then shortly after they all appeared on No 10’s peerages list. It looked pretty odd, to say the least. Were the Met right to investigate it? Yes, they f****** were.'.... Government sources revealed Evans’s diaries were central to the investigation. The Sunday Times has established that there are entries apparently recording discussions between Evans and Levy in 2004. In these meetings, the diaries allegedly explicitly link the offer of a loan to the promise of a peerage. Levy told police he had never made any such offer. 'If those diaries ever get into the public domain, the effect will be spectacular,' said one person who has read them.”
No 10 honours plot: four new names
London Times, 22 July 2007

"Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group founder, Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone, and Tony Hayward, John Browne’s replacement at BP, are among a string of high profile City executives who have been recruited to advise Gordon Brown and his new cabinet on business.The list of FTSE 100 chief executives who will serve on the newly formed Business Council for Britain also includes and Jean-Paul Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline chief, Stephen Green of HSBC and Tesco’s Sir Terry Leahy. The impressive list of business leaders is central to the prime minister’s efforts to improve relations between the City and the government."
Brown leans on City for business advice
Financial Times, 29 June 2007

"A lavish contributor to Labour's coffers, Sir Ronnie [Cohen] has quietly secured a coveted place at [Gordon] Brown's side, and appears to be lined up for something far surpassing the fundraiser-cum-fixer's job once done by Lord Levy....The latest Sunday Times Rich List estimates his fortune at £260 million, making him the sixth wealthiest man in the City.... after a decade on the fringes of the Blairite court, he understands the size of the role Brown has in mind for him. Just as the outgoing Prime Minister surrounded himself with advisers whose stature and influence was equal to, if not greater than, members of the cabinet, so Sir Ronald and a few other key Brownites are about to find themselves in similarly elevated positions. While his first task will be to rebuild Labour's depleted finances before the next election, his real job is likely to be as a globetrotting uber-envoy, bypassing the Foreign Office and reporting directly to the prime minister, and with a particular focus on the Middle East."
Mr Brown's smoothy
Sunday Telegraph, 17 June 2007

"Tony Blair's controversial Middle East envoy Lord Levy is leaving too and attention is turning to Ronnie Cohen, a man some believe may play an equivalent role for Gordon Brown for the new Labour leader. He is rich, secretive, and controversial - an important donor to the Labour party and man with a key role in British diplomacy as it relates to the Middle East.  Sir Ronald is an Egyptian-born Jew and fluent in Arabic. He fled persecution to Britain as a child. His career background is in finance, not politics. At 26 he set up Apax Partners, a Private Equity firm that is regarded as the grand-daddy of an industry Cohen made hundreds of millions of pounds [from] until he started looking for a change two years ago. It was his role at the Portland Trust that caught Gordon Brown's attention. More4 News has learnt Sir Ronald will not have any official role under Brown in the way that Levy was a formal 'envoy' to Blair, but that does not mean that he will not be a hugely powerful figure. A source close to Cohen told us Sir Ronald believes his power will be in inverse proportion to his profile, so he could stay out of the public eye, while acting as a key policy adviser or maker behind the scenes."
Gordon Brown's rich friend
Channel 4 News, 19 June 2007

"The financier Sir Ronald Cohen, who has been one of the Chancellor's most trusted informal advisers for the past decade, recently made the surprising decision to retire from active business life. This was an extremely significant move: he will shortly emerge from the shadows of the City to become one of the most senior   members of the inner circle of the next Prime Minister.... Initially, Sir Ronald will be entrusted with the task of restoring Labour Party finances. The party is bankrupt at the moment - a direct consequence of the cash for peerages affair. Sir Ronald will be asked to help find the money to fight the next General Election, without leaving Labour cripplingly dependent on union donations. He will also be brought into the heart of government in other ways. Gordon Brown already employs Sir Ronald as a foreign policy adviser, just as Tony Blair used Lord Levy.... His stature will be far greater than that of mere Cabinet ministers. The truth is that Sir Ronald, Treasury Minister Ed Balls and just one or two other key Brownites will run the country. Anyone who wishes to understand what Britain under Gordon Brown will be like has no choice but to understand Sir Ronald Cohen, who he is and what he does... Sir Ronald is the founder of the private equity business, which makes massive profits out of buying, restructuring and then selling on great chunks of British business and which controls about a quarter of the country's private industry. This makes him a businessman of enormous importance.....he is a director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies - a very wellconnected think tank specialising in political and military conflict.... Sir Ronald (who has personally given some £1.5 million to Labour since 2001 alone) is one of a group of private equity moguls who have made very substantial donations to the Labour Party.... the large donations to the Labour Party [are] mainly from people who, like Sir Ronald, showed no interest in Labour until it was on the verge of power..."
Worrying questions over Brown's private banker
Daily Mail, 3 March 2007

'The Special Relationship'
'Our Values' - Anglo-American Partners Backing Of Oil Rich Dictatorships

"Foreign Secretary David Miliband has insisted that the US will continue to be the UK's 'single most important bilateral partner in the world'.  Mr Miliband said: 'Nothing has changed. ......Our shared values give us real strength.'"
Miliband defends UK-US relations
BBC Online, 14 July 2007

"In the control room of Azerbaijan's sprawling oil terminal near the capital, Baku, Bala Mirza sits peering at a fuzzy map on a computer monitor. The outline of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey looks like little more than a jumble of hills and farming towns. But for the engineer, 41, what lies underground has rocked his world: a new 1,100-mile oil pipeline, which in recent months has tied this tiny country on the edge of the Caspian Sea to the huge Western market....This Muslim republic [Azerbaijan], directly north of Iran and tucked into the southwest corner of the vast former Soviet empire, is suddenly a central player in one of the West's most distressing problems: how the U.S. and Europe will secure enough oil and gas to power cities, factories, airplanes and cars--in short, how to keep our entire modern lives afloat. Since last June, hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day have surged through a pipeline running from Baku through Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. Named the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC), the $4 billion pipeline is one of the world's longest and is operated by the British-American oil company BP, with partners that include U.S. oil companies Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Hess. By spring, about 1 million bbl. a day will move down the pipe, and BP could increase that soon after to about 1.5 million bbl. a day. A parallel BP pipeline opened last month to send hundreds of billions of cubic feet of natural gas from the Caspian to Western Europe, in order to break the Continent's overwhelming reliance on Russia.... Fifteen years after the Soviet Union's collapse, it's tempting to think of the cold war as history--until you land in Baku. This is the front line of a new East-West contest, one that is as consequential as the nuclear-weapons face-off of the past: the battle for energy supplies among countries heavily dependent on imported oil and gas, which include the U.S. and the E.U., plus the rocketing economies of China and India. That necessity is a powerful weapon in this new battle.....Azerbaijan might be secular, but it is hardly democratic. Local elections in 2005 and the presidential vote that brought Ilham Aliyev to power in 2003 were both flawed, according to U.N. and American election observers. A free press? Hardly. One afternoon in December, TIME's team was taken to a police station near Baku and questioned for three hours about our activities.... Some Azeris believe Western governments prefer energy security to political freedom, as was sought in the 2004 revolution in Ukraine--a major transhipper of natural gas to Western Europe. 'The U.S. will never support democrats in Azerbaijan because of their oil interests,' says [Vafa] Guluzadeh [former adviser to President Heydar Aliyev]."
Oil's Vital New Power
TIME, 12 January 2007

What Was Really At Stake In The Ukrainian Elections Of 2004? - Click Here

"Those who dare challenge the [Saudi] regime or its policies are punished severely. There is no constitution, no political parties and no legislature. It was under such an environment of repression that Osama Bin Laden and most of his followers first emerged. Long shielded by their willingness to supply the United States with cheap oil, to subsidize the American arms industry with major weapons purchases and to make lucrative deals with other major U.S. corporate interests, the United States has allowed this family dictatorship to get away with practices that would have been considered unacceptable for almost any other country..... Much of this comes down to the fact that it is easier to manipulate and make deals with unaccountable despots than it is with an unwieldy democratic system that has to be responsive to the desires of the people.... In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with King Abel-Aziz ibn Saud, the founder of the modern Arabian kingdom that now bears his family's name, and forged the alliance that remains to this day: in return for open access to Saudi oil, the United States would protect the royal family from its enemies, both external and internal....."
Time to Question the US Role in Saudi Arabia
Foreign Policy in Focus, 27 May 2003

Meanwhile The Battle For The World's Energy
As Peak Oil Looms Britain And America's Undeclared Struggle Against China And India Rages On

"[UK Foreign Secretary] David Miliband gave a rousing defence of Britain’s special relationship with America yesterday, vowing to uphold what he called this country’s 'single most important' alliance. Days after government ministers hinted that Gordon Brown may distance himself from Washington, the Foreign Secretary used his first important foreign policy speech to defend staunchly Britain’s support for President Bush. 'If we want Britain to be a global hub we need a strong relationship with the leading global power,' he said in a speech at Chatham House, the foreign policy think-tank in London. 'The US is our single most important bilateral partnership, yes because of shared values, but also because of political reality.'...The alliance with the US was one that would grow and deepen over time. Mr Miliband predicted that over the next two decades, with the growing strength of China and India, the bilateral relationship with America would become 'more, not less, important'."
Miliband rallies support for Bush with a defence of vital alliance
London Times, 19 July 2007

"The first hard truth is that [energy] demand is accelerating. Energy use in 2050 may be twice as high as it is today, or higher still. The main causes are population growth, from six to more than nine billion people, and higher levels of prosperity. China and India are entering the energy-intensive phase of their development. This is the point when people buy their first television or car, or board a plane for the first time, and start to consume much more transport fuel and electricity. And most people in China and India have never boarded a plane yet! The pace of change is startling. Last year, China enlarged its electricity capacity by roughly the equivalent of Great Britain’s entire stock of power stations.....The second hard truth is that the growth rate of supplies of 'easy oil', conventional oil and natural gas that are relatively easy to extract, will struggle to keep up with accelerating demand. Just when energy demand is surging, many of the world’s conventional oilfields are going into decline.... The world now produces 135 million barrels oil equivalent a day of oil and natural gas. We could still raise that number with new technologies, but only gradually and certainly not indefinitely....The world’s energy system is entering a turbulent phase, and the only question is: how turbulent? A cooperative world will respond more effectively than a fragmented one... The alternative is a global market failure, and future generations would pay the price."
Jeroen van der Veer, Chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell
High hopes and hard truths dictate future
London Times, 25 June 2007

"This International Energy Strategy is the product of cross-government work, particularly between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I'm glad to welcome Mike O'Brien back to the Foreign Office to launch it with me. The Government's Energy White Paper last year identified a dual energy challenge: to maintain Britain's access to secure and affordable energy supplies, while mitigating the effects of climate change.Both issues are vital to our prosperity and security. And both require not just domestic but international action. That is what this International Energy Strategy is about..... The second part of the energy challenge which this strategy addresses is the need for secure and affordable energy supplies. Our economy, our public services and our security rely on them. For the United Kingdom, our growing need for energy over the next decades has to be seen in a changing context – that of a probable fall in our own domestic production, as North Sea reserves are run down. We are likely to become net importers of gas by 2006 and of oil by 2010. By 2020, we will probably be importing three-quarters of our primary energy needs – and we will need to adapt to that..... By 2020, around half of global oil demand will probably be met by countries with significant risk of internal instability – and that will require more focus on policies which tackle the potential causes of conflict, and spread the benefits of energy wealth.... Energy is one of the eight international priorities which we identified in the FCO's Strategy last December. On this and on all of those priorities, we can only meet our objectives by working closely together, across government and outside. We are publishing this International Energy Strategy – the first time that we have done so – to help us to do that. I will be tasking our Ambassadors and High Commissioners in priority posts overseas to take personal charge of implementing this Strategy and delivering its objectives. We will be developing with them individual Country Action Plans on energy and climate change. And we will be enhancing our posts' capacity on energy issues and making better use of our network of energy attachés, with a particular focus on the large new consumers of energy such as China and India, and producers such as Russia."
Jack Staw, Foreign Secretary,
Launch of the UK International Energy Strategy, Foreign Office, 28 October 2004

Scarlett As Today's Manipulator In Chief For The City Of London
As Peak Oil Looms

"When John Scarlett begins his new job this morning as head of MI6 his first task will be to defend himself against yet another damaging allegation about falsifying intelligence to help Tony Blair. This latest controversy has prompted many in the intelligence community to question whether Mr Scarlett is too much of a liability to run the Secret Intelligence Service. The growing view in Whitehall is that he is 'damaged goods', dogged by scandal, who for the sake of the agency should stand down to allow MI6 the chance to restore its credibility. Mr Scarlett faces claims that in March he clumsily tried to distort a crucial report by the Iraq Survey Group, (ISG), the international body set up to hunt for Saddam Hussein’s supposed arsenal of banned armaments. Just before the 1,400-strong team of inspectors were due to report on how they had failed to turn up any trace of weapons of mass destruction they were reportedly contacted by Mr Scarlett. He was still head of the Joint Intelligence Committee and suggested that the ISG report should be cut from 200 pages of detailed analysis to 20, and left sufficently vague to protect Mr Blair’s stand on Iraq’s weapons menace. He wanted the report to keep alive the prospect that deadly weapons could still be found. In a confidential e-mail sent to the ISG team in Baghdad, Mr Scarlett is alleged to have asked them to add ten 'golden nuggets' to their report which prolonged the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction. One of these alleged 'nuggets' was that Iraq was developing smallpox weapons. He also wanted mention that Iraq had mobile biological weapons laboratories and sophisticated equipment for use in nuclear weapons research..... His growing army of critics inside Whitehall argue it will be impossible to restore MI6’s credibility while he remains in charge. One security expert decribed his reported intervention with the Iraq Survey Group as 'staggering'..... His appointment was met by claims in some quarters of Whitehall that it was a reward from Mr Blair as many had expected MI6’s deputy head, Nigel Inkster, to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove as 'C'.... This damaging view was reinforced when Downing Street took the unusual step of going on the record robustly to support Mr Scarlett’s suitability for the job."
New MI6 chief walks into storm over 'ties to Downing Street'
London Times, 2 August 2004

"Oil ruled the 20th century; the shortage of oil will rule the 21st.... Last Tuesday the lead story in The Financial Times was the latest report from the International Energy Agency. The FT quoted the IEA as saying: 'Oil looks extremely tight in five years’ time,' and that there are 'prospects of even tighter natural gas markets at the turn of the decade'. For an international agency, that is inflammatory language....  27 of the 51 oil-producing nations listed in BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy reported output declines in 2006. One projection of world crude oil production actually forecasts a 10 per cent reduction in total world output between 2005 and 2015. That would be a revolution..... Some analysts think that the peak oil moment has already been reached; some still think that it will not come until 2020 – which is itself only 12 years away. Market trends and the statistics both support the IEA’s view that consumption is accelerating and supplies falling faster than expected. Of course, if the 'crunch' point is only five years’ away for oil, and closer for natural gas, it has, for practical purposes, already arrived....The shortage of oil and natural gas, relative to demand, had already changed the balance of world power. Historians may well conclude that the US decision to invade Iraq was primarily motivated by the desire to gain physical control of Iraq’s oil and to provide defence support to other Middle Eastern oil powers. Political motivations are always mixed, but oil is an essential national interest of the United States. If the US is now deciding to withdraw from Iraq, the price will have to be paid in terms of loss of access to oil.... The world is coming to the end of the age of oil, which produced its own technology, its balance of power, its own economy, its pattern of society. It does not greatly matter whether the oil supply has peaked already or is going to peak in five or 12 years’ time. There is a huge adjustment to be made. There will be some benefits, including higher efficiencies and perhaps a better approach to global warming. But nothing will take us back towards the innocent expectation of indefinite expansion of the first months of the new millennium."
Lord William Rees-Mogg
Are these the last days of the Oil Age?
London Times, 16 July 2007

British Intelligence Has Been Working
For BP For The Best Part Of A Century

"It would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, but one of Ireland’s most republican counties is celebrating the life of the founder of Britain’s intelligence agencies. William Melville was born in the Kerry village of Sneem to a publican’s family and fled his roots to forge a stellar career in London as a detective fighting terrorism. When he 'retired' in 1903 from the Metropolitan Police at the height of his fame, he went on to establish the forerunner of MI5, providing the inspiration for James Bond’s boss in Ian Fleming’s books.... In 1903 Melville announced that he was retiring to spend more time with his family and garden. Instead he moved into offices in Victoria Street, adjacent to Scotland Yard, and under the nameplate William Morgan, General Agent, created a cover story that allowed him to gather intelligence for the War Office. He reported under the alias 'M'. In that year the War Office set up a Directorate of Military Operations and Melville was head-hunted for the role of field operative to act as a controller for agents abroad as well as to undertake missions himself. One of his first was to help to secure British access to Persian oil. In this he succeeded by derailing French negotiations and allowing a British syndicate to seal the deal. The company that emerged from the machinations became BP. In 1909 the Secret Service Bureau was set up to coordinate intelligence work under two sections, home and foreign, which became, respectively, MI5 and MI6."
M: Britain's first spymaster was an Irishman who played patriot game
London Times, 2 July 2007

Iraq 'Dodgy Dossier' John Scarlett
Rogue State Britain's 'Regime Change' King

Back in March 2000 the Sunday Times reported on a Turkish intelligence report which claimed that oil companies BP and Amoco were behind a coup d'etat in Azerbaijan in 1993 in order to help install ruthless dictator Haydar Aliyev, shown above right meeting Tony Blair at Downing St in 1998 to conclude an ensuing multi-billion $ BP oil deal Now, following the ignominious departure of BP's Chief Executive Lord Browne at the beginning of May, one of his former managers has revealed to a British newspaper more of the full scale of these 'regime change' plots in Azerbaijan, including an earlier BP backed coup in 1992 and the central role played in both by MI6's John  Scarlett, above left, who was later to become author of the most infamous of the Downing St Iraq regime change 'Dodgy Dossiers'

"It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Tomorrow New Labour’s ethical policy will drown symbolically in a poisonous cocktail of blood and oil when the Queen shakes hands with Azerbaijan’s President Aliev. Her Majesty may be forgiven for thinking this is one export-driven photo-opportunity too many. The Queen has dutifully entertained tyrants of all stripes but she has never had to shake hands with a SMERSH agent before.... Today, as President of Azerbaijan his secret police regularly arrest scores of critics allegedly plotting against him and thousands languish in his old haunts, the ex-KGB prisons. Others simply disappear. Yet Aliev’s Azerbaijan is respectable. There is one word to explain this bizarre fact: Oil.... Azeri democracy was uniquely Aliev-style.... oil decreed that Aliev had won 98.9% of the votes - a modest 1% fall from his last Soviet-era total... A gaggle of ex-Tory MPs and former Foreign Office diplomats know the value of keeping in with Aliev. So does a host of stars of George Bush’s Administration... [now] Tony Blair is wining and dining Aliev..."
Aliev In Britain
Daily Mail, 20 July 1998

Governments Come And Governments Go
But For Decades Oil And MI6's Secret Influence Over British Foreign Policy
Has Been A Persistent If Largely Invisible Presence
Their Roles In Iran 1953, Suez 1956, And Azerbaijan 1993, For Example,
Have Only Surfaced In Fuller Detail Since 2000

"He was the Sun King: the brightest star in British business, a global power and an adored confidant of prime ministers. Then, last week, he managed to lose both his job and his reputation....On Monday evening Lord Browne of Madingley, then still chief executive of BP, gathered a few close friends for dinner at his home in Chelsea. The mood was sombre; for John Browne, who had entertained Tony Blair and Gordon Brown at the same table, this was a humble last supper.... Dapper, diminutive and urbane, Browne has always seemed the antithesis of the Texan oilman portrayed in Hollywood films. But oil was in Browne's blood: his father, a former Army officer, worked for the Anglo-Persian oil company, the forerunner of BP."
End of the affair
Daily Telegraph, 5 May 2007

"Fifty years ago this week, the CIA and the British SIS [MI6] orchestrated a coup d'etat that toppled the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh [in Iran]. The prime minister and his nationalist supporters in parliament roused Britain's ire when they nationalised the oil industry in 1951, which had previously been exclusively controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company [or Anglo-Persian Oil Company later renamed as BP]. Mossadegh argued that Iran should begin profiting from its vast oil reserves. The British government tried to enlist the Americans in planning a coup... By the end of Operation Ajax, some 300 people had died in firefights in the streets of Tehran. The crushing of Iran's first democratic government ushered in more than two decades of dictatorship under the Shah... The author of All the Shah's Men, New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer, argues that the coup planted the seeds of resentment against the US in the Middle East, ultimately leading to the events of September 11.... The coup and the culture of covert interference it created forever changed how the world viewed the US, especially in poor, oppressive countries. For many Iranians, the coup was a tragedy from which their country has never recovered. Perhaps because Mossadegh represents a future denied, his memory has approached myth."
The spectre of Operation Ajax
Guardian, 20 August 2003

'Operation Ajax' - More Details - Click Here

'Our Values'
And So It Goes On - British 'Oil-For-Arms' Deal With Saudi Dictatorship

"At the heart of the Department of Justice investigation into BAE Systems will be a secret account held by the Bank of England on behalf of the Saudi Arabian Government. This escrow account is the conduit through which £43 billion has been passed to BAE over the past 22 years to pay for Tornado fighter jets and other military equipment. It was set up as part of the 1985 al-Yamamah oil-for-arms agreement between Britain and Saudi Arabia. Over the years the account has fallen into deficit but more recently has held a significant surplus. It is this surplus that has sparked the recent allegations of corruption in BAE’s dealings with the Saudis. Payments totalling more than £1 billion made to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Ambassador to the US, are believed to have come from this surplus at the request of the Saudi Government. The money was signed off by the Ministry of Defence, as agreed under the al-Yamamah contract, and transferred through BAE to the projects identified by the Saudis. In the case of Prince Bandar, the money is alleged to have been transferred to an account held by Riggs Bank in the US. The MoD claims that it is unaware of the existence of the account but government officials have confirmed its use. The account was set up because, in the1980s, Saudi Arabia paid for its arms with oil. It transferred oil production to BP and Shell and they paid cash into the Bank of England account. The money was then forwarded to BAE to pay for arms. When the price of oil slumped in the early 1990s the account fell into deficit, embarrassing the Saudis who were forced to make cash top-ups. Since then the account has been kept in surplus. In distributing the surplus, the Saudis have maintained the payment method agreed under al-Yamamah and that is why BAE has become embroiled. The DoJ investigation into BAE will therefore lead directly back to the MoD and a Bank of England account that the Government claims does not exist."
Secret account under spotlight
London Times, 27 June 2007

Fighting Breaks Out Amongst Thieves - Why The US Department Of Justice Is Gunning For BAE Systems - Click Here

"The Ministry of Defence is understood to be seeking legal advice before deciding whether to provide unfettered help to the DoJ. A government official said the MoD would need to 'advise and consult' on what would be released. The Foreign Office could also be reluctant to see confidential information released."
BAE faces threat of fines in US probe
Financial Times, 27 June 2007

"BAE, under Dick Evans'schairmanship, moved its whole worldwide system of agent payments to Switzerland. What it did was not illegal, but the firm constructed what might well be called a global money-laundering machine. For a supposedly reputable public company, the methods used were surprising. Britain's Serious Fraud Office later concluded: 'The whole system is maintained in such conditions of secrecy that there is a legitimate suspicion concerning the real purpose of the payments.' The system was run from a secure block, Warwick House, at BAE's Farnborough premises. 'HQ Marketing Services' was headed by Hugh Dickinson, who was also responsible for company liaison with MI6.....just before Britain signed up to the OECD [anti-bribery] convention in 1997, the filing cabinets and safes containing the agent details were loaded into a van and driven by trusted staff from Farnborough to Geneva.... The purpose of these tortuous arrangements seems to have been to ensure that nothing questionable involving the hiring of agents took place within UK legal jurisdiction. But a further secret payment system was also needed for BAE to transfer large sums in cash to those agents.... We have traced secret payments going to agents in South America, Tanzania, Romania, South Africa, Qatar, Chile and the Czech Republic.... BAE set up a second front company, purely to handle the Saudi commission payments for al-Yamamah. 'Poseidon Trading Investments Ltd' was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on June 25 1999. Those close to it say more than £1bn has passed through its accounts to Saudi agents, in transfers made by Lloyds TSB."
BAE's Secret Money Machine
Guardian, 'The BAE Files' Web Archive

Of Course The British Foreign Office And MI6 Never Have Anything Criminal To Hide Do They?
The British Sewer Runs Deep, Very Deep

'Arms To Iraq' - British Intelligence And The Astra Scandal - Click Here

"The problem is that because everything is so secret you don't know what's going on. Spies like my husband are asked to do things but they might not be told why, and so very often they can't see the bigger picture. This means that sometimes they don't know whether their actions are noble and resulting in good things ... or whether they are creating hostilities. There's often a lot of tension for them then, and I never knew how Harry would be when he returned from a job. My husband had to go off and do his job and I never knew how he was going to be when he came back."
'Nicky', Wife Of An MI6 Agent - Interview
The spy who loved me
Guardian, 24 January 2007

The Bigger Picture? - It's The Money Stupid

"A retired MI6 officer has been appointed to a top post at BP-Amoco, the British-based oil company..... John Gerson was director of security and public affairs at the agency and was embroiled in attempts to suppress disclosures by the former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson. Mr Gerson took early retirement from what was effectively the post of deputy head of MI6 at the end of last year. Last month he became one of BP's vice-presidents for government and public affairs. His appointment was approved by the cabinet secretary, Sir Richard Wilson. MI6 has close links with oil companies, the 'revolving door' syndrome, in the same way as armed forces officers have close links with defence companies. Rolls-Royce has employed former MI6 officers to help win contracts in the Middle East, and merchant banks have taken some on. During the first reading of the intelligence services bill, Lord Mackay, the conservative lord chancellor, told peers in 1994 that MI6 protected the 'economic wellbeing' of the country by keeping 'a particular eye on Britain's access to key commodities, like oil...'"
Former MI6 officer gets top post at BP
Guardian, 8 May 2000

"A private intelligence firm with close links to MI6 spied on environmental campaign groups to collect information for oil companies, including Shell and BP. MPs are to demand an inquiry by Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, into whether the secret intelligence service used the firm as a front to spy on green activists. The firm's agent, who posed as a left-wing sympathizer and film maker, was asked to betray plans of Greenpeace's activities against oil giants. He also tried to dupe Anita Roddick's Body Shop group to pass on information about its opposition to Shell drilling for oil in a Nigerian tribal land. The Sunday Times has seen documents which show that the spy, German-born Manfred Schlickenrieder, was hired by Hakluyt, an agency that operates from offices in London's West End. Schlickenrieder was hired by Mike Reynolds, a director of Hakluyt and MI6's former head of station in Germany. His cover was blown by a female colleague who had worked with him. Last night he refused to comment. Reynolds and other MI6 executives left the intelligence service after the cold war ended to form Hakluyt in 1995. It was set up with the blessing of Sir David Spedding, the then chief of MI6, who died last week. Christopher James, the managing director, had been head of the MI6 section that liaised with British firms. The firm, which takes its name from Richard Hakluyt, the Elizabethan geographer, assembled a foundation board of directors from the Establishment to oversee its activities, including Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Ian Fleming's model for James Bond. Baroness Smith, the widow of John Smith, the late Labour leader, was a director until the end of last year. The company has close links to the oil industry through Sir Peter Cazalet, the former deputy chairman of BP, who helped to establish Hakluyt before he retired, last year, and Sir Peter Holmes, former chairman of Shell, who is president of its foundation. MPs believe the affair poses serious questions about the blurring of the divisions between the secret service, a private intelligence company and the interests of big companies. Hakluyt refutes claims by some in the intelligence community that it was started by MI6 officers to carry out 'deniable' operations.... Hakluyt was reluctant to discuss its activities. Michael Maclay, one of the agency's directors and a former special adviser to Douglas Hurd when he was Conservative foreign minister, said: 'We don't ever talk about anything we do. We never go into any details of what we may or what we may not be doing.'"
MI6 'Firm' Spied on Green Groups
Sunday Times, 17 June 2001

"The Joint Intelligence Committee agrees on the broad intelligence requirements and tasking (National Intelligence Requirements) for SIS [MI6] and GCHQ and oversees the activities of the Security Service's. It prepares summary assessments for selected Ministers and circulates the weekly 'Red Books' to the Cabinet's Defence and Overseas Committee, chaired by the PM. Traditionally it meets every Wednesday morning and includes representatives from UKUSA and the COS secretariat. This is the 'key' committee involved in the Intelligence Community.  Originally formed as the Inter-Service Intelligence Committee (ISIC) under the Chiefs of Staff in January 1936, renamed the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) in July 1936. Moved to foreign Office control in July 1939. In 1957 control moved to Cabinet Office and in 1968 the post of Intelligence Co-Coordinator was created within the Cabinet Office to oversee its functions. In 1982 following the Falklands War the Foreign Office ceased to have any control and the JIC became a Cabinet Office organization with direct access to the Prime Minister. The JIC is reported to have a staff of 20 with a further 30 in the 'JIO' or ISG. Closely involved with the major City institutions particularly Banking, the Economic Sub-Committee of JIC also includes representatives of both the Treasury and the Bank of England (which also an SLO to receive intelligence reports directly from the JIC)."
The Mechanisms of an Oppressive State - UK Intelligence And Security Report
AFI Research, August 2003

"With the end of the Cold War, MI6's role has fundamentally changed and it now has many more potential targets. Terrorist groups, and so-called 'rogue' states, are now high profile targets. Networks of new agents will be required as intelligence 'needs' constantly shift. Industrial espionage, furthering British trade interests has moved into the area of national interest. Gathering intelligence on friendly governments, obtaining advanced knowledge of their negotiating positions or changes in alliances, are also now ever more important targets for MI6. The Intelligence Services Act 1994 formerly acknowledged its existence.... R6 Industrial, Commercial & Financial. Worked closely with both the Treasury and the Bank of England, as well as Merchant Bankers such as Hill Samuel; Hambro's; Kleinwort Benson; Morgan Grenfell; Brandts; Cootes and the Midland. Solicitors firms such as Slaughter & May were also part of the network of important contacts, along with Thomas Cook; ICI; BP; Shell; Lonrho and RTZ."
The Mechanisms of an Oppressive State - UK Intelligence And Security Report
AFI Research, August 2003

Who Are AFI Research? - Click Here

Where The Problem Resides
'Ceausescu Towers' And The Greedy Dolts In The City Of London

"... there needs to be proper supervision and surveillance of the security services if trust in them is to be maintained. The Government's record can fill no one with confidence. Look how it dealt with John Scarlett, who as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee was responsible for the dodgy dossier which took us to war in Iraq. Was he disciplined or sacked? On the contrary, he was awarded a knighthood and made head of MI6."
A question of trust, not just security
Daily Mail, 4 May 2007

Scarlett's Lair - Capital Of The Evil Empire

MI6 HQ Building Off Vauxhall Bridge London Otherwise Known As 'Ceausescu Towers' After The Architectural Style Favoured By Former Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu

"The MI6 building is known to some staff at Vauxhall Cross as 'Ceausescu Towers', after the former Romanian dictator with a penchant for grandiose and inhuman architecture. Designed by the Terry Farrell, who was unaware of the intended tenants, it originally cost pounds 240m to build. But to accommodate its occupants a further pounds 86m of public money needed to be spent to cope with the service's needs. The building, which opened in 1994, includes a shooting range and arsenal, a garage for adapting and maintaining MI6's fleet of special cars, secure areas where eavesdropping is impossible, and a array of computer and radio communication rooms. There are rooms for the development of specialist espionage equipment of the type made famous by 'Q' the fictional boffin of the James Bond films, and a forgery section where counterfeit documents are produced. Details of the building are covered by the Official Secrets Act which every member of the staff is obliged to sign. The former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson, who now lives in Italy, visited the building many times before he left the service in 1996. 'If I told you what was in the building I would be open to prosecution,' he said yesterday.... For top secret meetings there is a special 'silent' room.... According to the author Stephen Dorrill there is also a secure command and control room to run major operations... On a second floor is a powerful computer set-up in which all the data sent in by MI6's officers and spies is collated. This is the information that enables MI6 to produce the CX reports - the weekly intelligence briefings that go to the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary."
MI6 MISSILE ATTACK: Hi-tech fortress where secrecy reigns supreme
Independent, 22 September 2000

Few People Are Likely To Have Read The Latest Azerbaijan Revelations About MI6
But Now That Blair Has Gone
They Merit Mass Demonstrations Outside 'Ceausescu Towers'
Calling For Scarlett's Sacking And Prosecution

Dolts In The City