[JURIST] UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Jack Straw [official profile] has announced reforms to the way Britain uses its secret intelligence. Straw announced the reforms Wednesday as part of a written statement [text] to Parliament on the government's implementation of the recommendations in the Butler report [text; JURIST report], which concluded that there were "serious flaws" in the intelligence used to justify war with Iraq. Straw said that the government has "reviewed and tightened up" the working methods of the Joint Intelligence Committee, the body that advises the government on intelligence findings. Prime Minister Tony Blair has also agreed to change his informal style of decision making, reducing "the scope for informed collective political judgments." In the future, groups "brought together to work on operational military planning and developing diplomatic strategy … will operate formally as an ad hoc Cabinet Committee." BBC News has more.