"Under the broad supervisory responsibility of the Permanent Secretaries' Committee on the Intelligence Services, to give direction to, and to keep under review, the organisation and working of British intelligence activity as a whole at home and overseas in order to ensure efficiency, economy and prompt adaptation to changing requirements;
to submit, at agreed intervals, for approval by Ministers, statements of the requirements and priorities for intelligence gathering and other tasks to be conducted by the intelligence Agencies; to co-ordinate, as necessary, interdepartmental plans for intelligence activity; to monitor and give early warning of the development of direct or indirect foreign threats to British interests, whether political, military or economic; on the basis of available information, to assess events and situations relating to external affairs, defence, terrorism, major international criminal activity, scientific, technical and international economic matters; to keep under review threats to security at home and overseas and to deal with such security problems as may be referred to it; to maintain and supervise liaison with Commonwealth and foreign intelligence organisations as appropriate, and to consider the extent to which its product can be made available to them."
"National Intelligence Machinery," Sep. 2001
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