Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee

Madeleine Alessandri CMG

Biography

Madeleine Alessandri has been Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee since 1 July 2023. Madeleine was Permanent Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office from 2020 to 2023. Previously she was the UK Deputy National Security Advisor and Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Resilience and Security. She joined government service in 1988 and has held a wide variety of positions in the Diplomatic Service and in National Security in the UK and overseas.

Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee

The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) is a cross-government committee, based at the Cabinet Office, providing ministers and senior officials with co-ordinated inter-departmental intelligence assessments, primarily about security, defence and foreign affairs. It supports the National Security Council.

The Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee is responsible to the Prime Minister for supervising the work of the JIC. The Chair is the head of the Joint Intelligence Organisation, which includes the Assessments Staff, a team of analysts responsible for drafting all-source intelligence assessments, and Professional Head of Intelligence Assessment.

Cabinet Office and National security and intelligence

Previous roles in government

  • Permanent Secretary for the Northern Ireland Office
  • Deputy National Security Adviser