Blix admits risk of spies in team

Hans Blix, the man entrusted with deciding whether Iraq is harbouring weapons of mass destruction, said yesterday that he could not guarantee his inspection teams would not include Western spies.

The 74-year-old Swede, who is due to arrive in Baghdad tomorrow, said that if any such spies were discovered on his team, they would be ordered to leave. But he added: "People have asked me, 'Can you be absolutely sure we will have no spies in any of the member states?' and I said, 'No, I don't think either the KGB or the CIA can give that absolute assurance.'"

The comments of Mr Blix will play into the hands of Baghdad, which Washington suspects will do everything it can to make the inspections unworkable. When UN inspectors were last in Iraq it was revealed that CIA agents were part of the teams.

Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that the US may create a new domestic spy agency, possibly modelled on Britain's MI5, to take over responsibility for counter-terrorist intelligence and analysis from the FBI, which has faced criticism since the 11 September 2001 attacks for failing to transform itself into an intelligence-gathering unit that can prevent terrorism. The Washington Post said the recent visit of the Homeland Security Director, Tom Ridge, to London was for a briefing on MI5's methods.

"We're either going to create a working, effective, substantial domestic intelligence unit in the FBI or create a new agency," said Richard Shelby, the most senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "The results are dismal to this point."