Counsel for relatives of Bloody Sunday victims strongly challenged a terse British Secret Service report yesterday which asserted that soldiers giving evidence to the inquiry would face a "moderate" threat of attack by terrorists.
Mr Michael Mansfield QC described the three-paragraph "threat assessment" as "quite astonishing" and said it was an insult to the intelligence of those who had to read it.
Another threat assessment, supplied to the tribunal by the RUC, also judges the overall threat to the soldiers as "moderate", but concedes that at the time of writing there is "no specific intelligence to suggest that there is a threat to former soldiers coming to Londonderry to give evidence."
The tribunal requested the assessments several months ago, before hearing submissions on where the evidence of soldiers involved in the events of Bloody Sunday should be heard. Counsel for the soldiers say their clients are strongly opposed, on security and safety grounds, to returning to Derry.
The brief assessment attributed simply to "Security Service" said that all soldiers were considered "legitimate targets" by republican terrorists.
It continued: "In the case of soldiers and ex-soldiers involved in the events of Bloody Sunday we assess that their actions at that time would make them stand out from the generality of soldiers and make them more attractive targets, if a successful attack could be carried out.
"However, if the hearings at which these soldiers and ex-soldiers appear are held on the mainland, the terrorist groups will be deprived of the ease of operation which they enjoy on their home ground in Northern Ireland . . . In consequence, the generally more difficult operating conditions on the mainland are likely to give rise to the perception that a successful terrorist attack will be harder to achieve."
The RUC assessment, however, said there was no specific intelligence indicating a threat to soldiers in Derry.
The RUC document commented that, arguably, one of the most contentious periods would be when the former soldiers give their evidence. "A large emotive crowd could make it difficult for police to ensure the safety of protesters and soldiers attending the inquiry without segregation."
The document noted that the Continuity IRA was not on ceasefire.
Both they and the Real IRA were assessed "that both these organisations have the potential to carry out an attack on the soldiers giving evidence to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry."
Mr Mansfield urged that the security services should be asked for the basis of their assertion.
He also queried how the RUC had arrived at the same "moderate" rating. "It is of vital importance to know how two separate organisations come up with exactly the same rating for two different situations," he said.
The chairman of the tribunal, Lord Saville, said that they would pass counsel's question on "and see what happens". He commented, however, that the tribunal shared the view that "it has taken a very long time to produce two very short reports".