BEWARE THE GIFT OF POISON FRUIT It is immoral. In all stages of the intelligence cycle, ethical questions must be carefully balanced against the national requirements of intelligence, security, and police services.18 The analysis and production of intelligence, often written up in the form of an intelligence report, may have significant impact. Agencies can reasonably limit the reliance placed on to the information they share by attaching necessary caveats, such as error estimates, to the conclusions of their analyses.19 Torture is an international crime, punishable in any State. Where action by an executive agent constitutes torture, either by direct perpetration or some form of complicity, every State has a duty to prosecute the crime. Often, executive agents have escaped criminal responsibility for their actions in the torture of detainees held overseas. Nevertheless, several criminal inquiries are on-going, and agents and their agencies may yet be held accountable for violations of international law. 18 19 18 For a consideration of ethics during each stage of the intelligence cycle, see H. Born & A. Wills, ‘Beyond the Oxymoron: Exploring ethics through the intelligence cycle’, in J. Goldman (ed.), Ethics of Spying (Volume 2) (Scarecrow Press, Lanham: 2010), pp.34–56. The UK Butler Inquiry was critical of the British Joint Intelligence Committee which did not offer clear limitations in its assessment to the government of whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.