In 1984, Powell alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency had murdered Earl Mountbatten of Burma and that the assassinations of the MPs Airey Neave and Robert Bradford were carried out at the direction of elements in the Government of the United States of America with the strategic objective of preventing Neave's policy of integration of Ulster fully into the United Kingdom. In 1986, Powell stated that the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) had not killed Neave but that "MI6 and their friends" were responsible: Powell cited as his sources for such an astonishing accusation by a British parliamentarian information that had been disclosed to him from within the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Margaret Thatcher, however, rejected and dismissed these assertions.