'I just had to tell the truth'

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The Independent
What makes someone put their career, their family - and even their liberty - on the line? And how do they rebuild their lives when the headlines have faded? Clare Rudebeck hears five whistleblowers' stories
03 January 2005


Brian Jones

The former member of the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS) described himself as "probably the most senior and experienced intelligence-community official working on WMD" in a confidential letter that caused a media storm when it was presented to the Hutton inquiry in August 2003. Jones's letter provided confirmation that some intelligence chiefs were unhappy with the British Government's September 2002 dossier on Iraq. Jones, who retired in January 2003, has since become a columnist for The Independent.

"My motivation for speaking out was not as altruistic as it might appear in hindsight. My first thought was self-protection and the protection of my branch at DIS. We were the people that Whitehall came to for information on weapons of mass destruction - the experts. And the Government's dossier on Iraq had gone much further than we wanted it to go. I was angry that people weren't listening to us. But there was also a degree of resignation, because this had been building up since not very long after the September 11 attacks. It was a process that seemed to be out of my control, so, at the time the dossier was published, I started to register my objections.

In the summer of 2003, the Foreign Affairs Committee's report on the decision to go to war against Iraq was published, saying that there had been no complaints from the intelligence community about the September dossier. I knew it wasn't true. I also realised that there could be a more thorough inquiry into the war and I didn't want anyone to say, 'You knew it was wrong and you said nothing'.

So, to protect myself, I did what the rule-book told me to do: I wrote a confidential letter to the deputy chief of Defence Intelligence, Martin Howard. The next time I saw that letter was when it appeared on my television screen on the BBC's six o'clock news after the first day of the Hutton inquiry.
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