Written question asked by Alice Mahon (Labour) on Monday, 18 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 26 October 2004. It was answered by Jack Straw (Labour) on Tuesday, 26 October 2004 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) provenance and (b) reliability of the intelligence that the UK has received on Uzbekistan from (i) the CIA and (ii) other sources.

Answer: Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) provenance and (b) reliability of the intelligence that the UK has received on Uzbekistan from (i) the CIA and (ii) other sources. [193025] Mr. Straw: All intelligence is validated and assessed. It is not the Government's policy to confirm or deny details of specific intelligence reporting. The UK intelligence agencies evaluate the reliability of all intelligence they receive before it is passed into the assessment process. This evaluation takes account of the possible motivation of the source as well as what kind of reporting record the source may have and the circumstances in which it was obtained.

Secondary information