John Scarlett

Sir John McLeod Scarlett was appointed head of the Secret Intelligence Service in 2004. He had previously served as chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.and head of the Intelligence and Securities Secretariat in the Cabinet Office.

MI6 career

A fluent Russian speaker, he joined MI6 in 1970 and during his early career served in Nairobi, Moscow, and Paris.

He went on to be in charge of Britain's station in Moscow.

Iraq dossier

Scarlett chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee from 3 September 2001. In this role he had responsibility for the dossier on alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction published by the British Government in September 2002.