It took a while to find this quote (The Daily Progress does not put John Hall on its website.)
I have no way of evaluating this claim that policy is driving intelligence conclusions. Here is the paragraph from John Hall:
A top-level independent commission is due to issue its report on the Iraqi intelligence failure soon. Whether or not mixing policy with intelligence will be part of its assessment of what went wrong isn't known. But Rice's statement on Iran sounds at this point like pre-emptive intelligence remains the practice.
This, of course, is a core ethical issue from the intelligence analyst’s point of view. Hall implies that pressure for tailored intelligence conclusion is coming from the top. This may be true in an indirect sense. Analysts often have to guess about policy directions by reading the newspapers. Ambitious analysts will look for hot stories in the same way journalists will. The result may look like tailored intelligence even when it isn’t.
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