CONFIDENTIAL
ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE AND ITS ASSESSMENT
This paper invites the help of Departments in a review of present arrangements for the collation and analysis of economic information from both overt and covert sources. It seems appropriate to review these arrangements at a time when the role of the JIC and the responsibilities of the Assessments Staff are both under re-examinati
2. The paper focuses on the work of the JIC(EA) Committee, a Sub-Committee of the JIC which in practice reports direct to Ministers. The chairmanship of the JIC (EA) is currently provided by the Treasury. The staff work is done by the Assessments Staff, with an important input from MOD's DELI in relation to Communist bloc countries. JIC(EA)'s terms of reference are:
3.
"The Sub-Committee will:
(a)
Assemble, evaluate and present such intelligence on developments in foreign countries in the economic (including commercial) field as may be required by the Cabinet, Cabinet Committees, Ministers, Departments or the JIC.
(b) Consider how far its material findings can be made available to other Governments, international bodies, research organisations and private industry and to take any necessary action to this end."
The Committee's output consists of a series of reports, typically a dozen or so each year, on the economic situation and prospects of selected countries. The choice of countries selected for JIC(EA) reporting is effected by a meeting of the Committee once a year in which bids are evaluated in terms of the strength of support which they receive from the various Whitehall Departments represented on the Committee. Typically, half of the Committee's reports will relate to Soviet bloc the rest to various der ping
countries in other parts of the world. The reports may have an immediate operational value, eg in terms of the needs of ECGD or
1
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.