220. Within most investigations, MI5 also prioritises the SOIs into tiers. The tier of an SOI within an investigation can change regularly as the investigation progresses.
Structures within the decision-making process
221. The Strategic Intelligence Group in MI5 is specifically designed to provide assessments which inform resource-allocation decisions and challenge the assumptions of investigators on an ongoing basis.
222. Each week the Head of counter-terrorism investigations holds a meeting to review intelligence developments with updates from operational teams, input from the police and the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC), and JTAC analysis. This produces the 'grid'—MI5's 15 highest-risk investigations—and allocation of investigative resources. In addition, there is a formal system of review:
- Each week, the counter-terrorism senior management team reviews the weekly dashboard of wider investigative resourcing issues.
- The Deputy Director General approves the proposed use of intrusive investigation tools on each investigation, before they are sent through the warrantry process to the Home Secretary.
- Each week, the Director General is briefed on the main developments and risks.
- Each week, the Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Operations (ACSO) is briefed on key developments in investigations. (A senior police investigator is included in the team on every major investigation, and if there is a risk to the public then an Executive Liaison Group is set up to enable MI5 and the police to agree how to manage that risk.)
- Every month, the Head of Counter-Terrorism agrees with UKIC and JTAC any strategic shifts required.
- Every quarter there is a thorough review of counter-terrorism casework, resulting in an internal report on the counter-terrorism threat picture, which informs a strategic review of investigations.
223. Operational decisions on intervention, including what form the executive action will take, are made by the Executive Liaison Group—a body comprising senior representatives of MI5 and CTP. When the Committee asked for a brief description of the handover process whereby an MI5 investigation is handed over to CTP for executive action, Director General MI5 explained:
We [MI5 and CTP] often use the metaphor of a car being driven, and for the first portion of the journey the driver is MI5 and the passenger seat is occupied by Neil's teams [CTP]; then, at the right moment, the roles change and the police take on the driving role and MI5 remains in the passenger seat. The point of the metaphor, which may or may not work for you, is that both parties are present and have full visibility of everything throughout the process but there is clearly a need for there to be a structured conversation
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