A snapshot of spies and their accountability

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By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News The report has provided an insight into the goings-on at MI6

The annual Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) reports, the latest of which was published on Thursday, are one of the few insights we get into the real world of British intelligence.

The big controversies that come into public view - like the Binyam Mohammed case recently - provide an insight into the sharp end of the business.

But the ISC reports usually provide a window into the more everyday aspects of life in MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

These areas can still be important - for instance how effective the "secret services" are at spending public money (not very good when it comes to some IT and capital spending projects we learn).

But this time the interesting detail was delivered with a hard edge.

Amongst the detail, we learnt that our security agencies have not been so good at securing their own IT.

In the case of GCHQ, 35 laptops were unaccounted for, including three certified to hold top-secret information.

The government said these were believed to have been destroyed but that this had not been properly recorded.

In an even more remarkable story, it turns out that highly classified MI6 data made its way onto the eBay auction site thanks to some shortcuts used in an overseas station.

In 2004, the MI6 station was still using floppy disks to transfer files but staff decided it would be quicker to use the memory capacity of a digital camera to transfer large files.

This was a breach of procedure. The memory stick was not labelled or held securely in the MI6 station nor was it destroyed.

Standards slipping?

It was forgotten up until news of its sale on eBay turned up on the front page of the Sun newspaper.

On a more serious note, the committee continues to warn that the struggle against terrorism means other priorities are slipping - particularly counter-espionage, the catching of foreign spies.

This has been a long-term concern for the ISC. The committee also warns of a growing danger from electronic attack.

But the edge to the reports came as we learned that relations between the ISC and the government are not exactly harmonious at the moment.

The chairman of the ISC, Kim Howells MP, noted in his press release that the report had been delivered in mid-December and covered the year ending in July 2009 but was published only now and the delay was "a matter of some disappointment to the committee".

The committee made a point of saying it expected its next reports - including one looking at the guidance for intelligence agencies on the interrogation of detainees - would now be published very soon.

The Binyam Mohamed case has proved to be controversial

Mr Howells writes that it was a "matter of great disappointment" that the guidance had not been provided in time to be included in this report, despite repeated requests from the Cabinet Office.

In a final broadside, he adds: "We also hope that, given the seriousness of the issues that both reports cover, the government will give proper consideration to our recommendations and conclusions and accept the changes we have proposed rather than seek to provide excuses for maintaining the status quo."

The different tone between the report itself and the tougher press release may be partly due to anger over the delay in publishing the report.

But it may also be a reflection of what has happened in that period.

Weak Iraq report

The revelations that have emerged out of the court cases relating to Binyam Mohammed have raised serious questions about the effectiveness of the ISC and its ability as an institution to provide serious accountability.

Why, it is asked, did details that have been sufficiently serious for the police to launch an investigation of MI5 come out only through court cases and not through the committee's work?

Past failures are often pointed to - for instance a weak report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction - as well as concerns over whether the committee is independent enough from Downing Street.

Many of the problems appear to have come in the half dozen years after 9/11 but this was when the most important issues came up, like Iraq, detainees and the 7/7 bombings.

The committee may be tougher now than it was then but it is paying for those perceived weaknesses of the past. And that is a problem not just for the ISC itself but also for the government and especially for the spies themselves.

They know the ISC is one of the few mechanisms for the public to have confidence that the intelligence agencies are really accountable and not "out of control".

The intelligence agencies themselves share in the blame though for the current problems. For instance, the committee points out that MI5 and MI6 failed to make information on the Binyam Mohammed case available to the committee when it made its initial 2007 inquiry and has provided "no convincing explanation as to why".

It has said this was not deliberate but due to poor record keeping, but this will do nothing to counter the suggestion in some quarters that the ISC sees only the files that the spies want them to see.

A few tough comments about laptops and data sticks will not be enough to alter many people's perceptions that something more fundamental needs to change if confidence is to be restored in the oversight of intelligence agencies.