JIC chair hospitalised but 'not targeted'
Friday, 04 Jul 2008 00:00
Alex Allan is one of Whitehall's most senior mandarins
The chairman of the joint intelligence committee (JIC) is not believed to have been deliberately targeted, police say, as he recovers from a serious illness in hospital.
Alex Allan was found unconscious at his home in west London on Monday night.
He remains in a serious condition in hospital. Toxicology tests have determined that the 57-year-old has not fallen victim to a poisoning attempt similar to that which killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006, however.
A Metropolitan police spokesperson said Mr Allan's illness "is being treated as non-suspicious".
Mr Allan, a keen windsurfer in his spare time, previously oversaw the establishment of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and had been private secretary to former prime minister Tony Blair and his predecessor John Major.
His joint intelligence committee acts as a filter between all Britain's intelligence agencies and the government. Its reports proved crucial to the decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 2003.