Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Head of Intelligence Assessment
The Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) and Head of Intelligence Assessment is responsible to the Prime Minister for supervising the work of the JIC, which provides Ministers and senior officials with co-ordinated inter-departmental intelligence assessments on a range of issues of immediate and long-term importance to UK interests, principally in the fields of security, defence and foreign affairs. He is the head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation, which includes the Assessments Staff, a group of analysts responsible for drafting JIC assessments, providing warnings of threats to UK interests, and monitoring countries at risk of instability. He is charged specifically with ensuring that the Committee’s warning and monitoring role is discharged effectively.
The JIC Chairman is also the Professional Head of Intelligence Analysis, a role established following recommendations in Lord Butler's 2004 review, with responsibility for enhancing the analytical capability of the UK intelligence community to enable it to work together more effectively and to provide better intelligence products for Ministers and senior policy makers.
The current Chairman is Alex Allan, who was appointed in December 2007.
