Islam Times - UK spy chiefs to be quizzed in public

Islam Times - Under the new changes in the way the British parliament screens the intelligence agencies, top spooks are to be questioned in public for the first time.

The hearings are part of a wide-ranging shake-up of the panel of MPs and peers that monitors the MI5, MI6 and The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) performance, The Telegraph reported.

Under the reforms, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) would also be able to have their operatives inside the agencies to examine the secret files.

“This is the most radical reform of intelligence oversight the United Kingdom has ever had”, said ISC’s chairman Malcolm Rifkind, insisting that the changes will increase public and parliamentary confidence.

“The agencies receive £2 billion of public resource a year. It is legitimate to question what public benefit they deliver," he added.

The public sessions will reportedly be held either in the Houses of Parliament or in the adjoining Portcullis House. Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, and John Sawyer, the chief of MI6, are to join the hearings.

The hearings, if held, are to be the first time in Britain's history that operation of Britain's intelligence agencies is publicly examined.