Nat Rush
This Article highlights the nature of the Government Communication Head Quarter’s work and their relationship with their US counterparts - the NSA.
GCHQ - Britain Under Surveillance
Within the last 12 months there has been a significant increase in information broadcasted relating to GCHQ. Before every respectable media outlet bombarded us with revelations about GCHQ surveillance techniques; they were perhaps known only for their curious doughnut shaped building. So what follows is a brief outline detailing facts we do know about GCHQ and their history.
The birth of GCHQ came in 1919 shortly after the end of the First World War. During the Second World War and beyond GCHQ was synonymous with breaking the German Enigma codes. According to Winston Churchill, it was thanks to the intelligence captured from this effort “that we won the war.”
There is not much readily available information regarding the post-war activities of GCHQ. Although there is an interesting excerpt that can be found on the GCHQ’s own history page on their website: “From VJ Day 1945 until the collapse of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the dominant military threat to the United Kingdom was the armed forces of the Soviet Bloc. These were therefore the main focus of GCHQ's (…) efforts.” Due to the largely political conflict of the Cold War it can be surmised that GCHQ played an important role in providing high value intelligence in a period of uncertainty and paranoia.
In the recent media coverage the NSA and GCHQ have often been mentioned in the same breath, but how close is the relationship between the two surveillance superpowers?
David Omand who directed GCHQ between 1996 and 1997, claimed last year on a BBC Radio 4 program, in relation to the British and American intelligence agencies relationship, “We have the brains. They have the money. It's a collaboration that's worked very well.”
Whilst there may be some mischief in his claim, due to Edward Snowden’s recent revelations we can see that one recurrent trend follows the NSA receiving information that GCHQ has gleaned.
David Oman - GCHQ director 1996-1997
One major reason for GCHQ being in a position to share data is explained through this excellent article from Reporters Without Borders; Because the UK sits on many of the World’s telecommunications cables it enables GCHQ to run ‘landing stations’ that can collect and store any information passed through these cables. And with the NSA funding GCHQ’s cable tapping it is surely no surprise that the sensitive information seems to be so readily shared.
So we can see that GCHQ is useful to the NSA, but to better understand their relationship and for an insight into what constitutes what GCHQ calls being ‘essential to the security of both nations,’ The paragraphs that follow contain details of some of the operations that both agencies work on. This material is of course available due to Snowden’s bravery and many hardworking journalists.
The first operation that is worth your attention today is one named SQUEAKY DOLPHIN. The details for this operation were first revealed by the NBC, following a presentation they obtained that was used to “show off” the technical abilities of GCHQ staff to the NSA.
SQUEAKY DOLPHIN is run by GCHQ and taps into optic-fibre cables to analyse social media trends. GCHQ are then able to localise their findings and monitor trends relating to a specific area. One particular example cited in this presentation is this: ‘a graph showing how many London-based internet users "liked" links about former defence secretary Liam Fox on Facebook over a week-long period.’
Glenn Greenwald - Guardian Journalist
This leaked information sharing session is not the only one, there are many more incidents that have been leaked that show a companionship that seems almost competitive between the two agencies.
There is much available information about leaked joint operations that are worth exploring, but one in particular has been the subject of much interest; namely the surveillance system codenamed PRISM.
PRISM allows the NSA to "receive" emails, video clips, photos, voice and video calls, social networking details, log-ins and other data held by US internet firms. The Washington Post explains that PRISM gives the NSA access to real-time surveillance, including notifications showing when a target logged on or sent an email, as well as the ability to monitor voice and text chats as they happen.
The Guardian revealed that according to leaked documents, GCHQ were using PRISM from 2010 onwards. The program appears to allow GCHQ to circumvent the formal legal process required to seek personal material such as emails, photos and videos from an internet company based outside of the UK.
Opening Slide of Leaked Document Containing PRISM Details.
The following operation contains more evidence that the sharing of potentially illegal systems and techniques for capturing and analysing citizen’s sensitive data is readily shared. This operation is named WINDSTOP and its revelation implicated not just GCHQ in its close ties to the NSA.
The Washington Post was the first to explore this operation under the headline
‘One month, hundreds of millions of records collected.’
The details included in this article reveal that GCHQ sent 181 million records collected from one of their operating stations to the NSA. While WINDSTOP is essentially a data collection operation, the leaked document discloses that Canada, Australia and New Zealand also contribute records to the operation. This fact gives the NSA the ability to analyse vast quantities of private information belonging to many people.
On the 10th of June 2013, William Hague gave a speech concerning GCHQ and his role in its organisation: “I am responsible for the work of GCHQ (…) under the overall authority of the Prime Minister.”
GCHQ clearly states that its goal is to safeguard the security of Britain. One question (of many) that the above information raises is how much value is placed upon the security of the obtained information. For instance, if the leaked documents featured in this article are to be trusted then it can be understood that GCHQ has access to the personal details of many UK citizens and passes on that information to the NSA for use in their data collection. How far does the line “essential to the securities of both nations” go in justifying the acquiring and sharing of this information? Therefore, is the Foreign Secretary correctly representing us and performing his duty in letting that information be so readily shared?
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