GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom.[2] Primarily based at "The Doughnut" in the suburbs of Cheltenham, GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary), but it is not a part of the Foreign Office and its Director ranks as a Permanent Secretary.
Not to be confused with HM Government Communications Centre or Conservative Campaign Headquarters.Agency overview
1 November 1919 (as Government Code and Cypher School)
The Doughnut
Hubble Road
Cheltenham, England
United Kingdom
51°53′58″N 2°07′28″W / 51.89944°N 2.12444°W
7,181[1]
Single Intelligence Account £3.711 billion in 2021–2022)[1]
- National Cyber Security Centre
- Composite Signals Organisation
GCHQ was originally established after the First World War as the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS)[3] and was known under that name until 1946. During the Second World War it was located at Bletchley Park, where it was responsible for breaking the German Enigma codes. There are two main components of GCHQ, the Composite Signals Organisation (CSO), which is responsible for gathering information, and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is responsible for securing the UK's own communications. The Joint Technical Language Service (JTLS) is a small department and cross-government resource responsible for mainly technical language support and translation and interpreting services across government departments. It is co-located with GCHQ for administrative purposes.
In 2013, GCHQ received considerable media attention when the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the agency was in the process of collecting all online and telephone data in the UK via the Tempora programme.[4] Snowden's revelations began a spate of ongoing disclosures of global surveillance. The Guardian newspaper was forced to destroy computer hard drives with the files Snowden had given them because of the threats of a lawsuit under the Official Secrets Act.[5] In June 2014, The Register reported that the information the government sought to suppress by destroying the hard drives related to the location of a "beyond top secret" GCHQ internet monitoring base in Seeb, Oman, and the close involvement of BT and Cable & Wireless in intercepting internet communications.[6]
GCHQ is led by the Director of GCHQ, Anne Keast-Butler, and a Corporate Board, made up of executive and non-executive directors. Reporting to the Corporate Board are:[7][8]
Personnel awards[edit]
GCHQ personnel are recognised annually by King Charles III (formerly the Prince of Wales) at the Prince of Wales's Intelligence Community Awards at St James's Palace or Clarence House alongside members of the Security Service (MI5), and Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).[84] Awards and citations are given to teams within the agencies as well as individuals.[84]
Joint Technical Language Service[edit]
The Joint Technical Language Service (JTLS) was established in 1955,[93] drawing on members of the small Ministry of Defence technical language team and others, initially to provide standard English translations for organisational expressions in any foreign language, discover the correct English equivalents of technical terms in foreign languages and discover the correct expansions of abbreviations in any language.[94] The remit of the JTLS has expanded in the ensuing years to cover technical language support and interpreting and translation services across the UK Government and to local public sector services in Gloucestershire and surrounding counties. The JTLS also produces and publishes foreign language working aids under crown copyright and conducts research into machine translation and on-line dictionaries and glossaries. The JTLS is co-located with GCHQ for administrative purposes.[95]
Constitutional legal case[edit]
A controversial GCHQ case determined the scope of judicial review of prerogative powers (the Crown's residual powers under common law). This was Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 374 (often known simply as the "GCHQ case"). In this case, a prerogative Order in Council had been used by the prime minister (who is the Minister for the Civil Service) to ban trade union activities by civil servants working at GCHQ. This order was issued without consultation. The House of Lords had to decide whether this was reviewable by judicial review. It was held that executive action is not immune from judicial review simply because it uses powers derived from common law rather than statute (thus the prerogative is reviewable).[119]
The following is a list of the heads and operational heads of GCHQ and GC&CS:
In popular culture[edit]
In the historical drama film The Imitation Game (2014) Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Alan Turing in his efforts to break the Enigma code while employed by the Government Code and Cypher School.[122]
GCHQ have set a number of cryptic online challenges to the public, used to attract interest and for recruitment, starting in late 1999.[123][124] The response to the 2004 challenge was described as "excellent",[125] and the challenge set in 2015 had over 600,000 attempts.[126] It also published the GCHQ Puzzle Book in 2016 which sold more than 300,000 copies, with the proceeds going to charity. A second book was published in October 2018.[127]
GCHQ appeared in the Doctor Who 2019 special "Resolution" where the Reconnaissance Scout Dalek storms the facility and exterminates the staff in order to use the organisation's resources to summon a Dalek fleet.[128][129]
GCHQ is the setting of the 2020 Sky One sitcom Intelligence, featuring David Schwimmer as an incompetent American NSA officer liaising with GCHQ's Cyber Crimes unit.[130]
In October 2020, intelligence and security expert John Ferris published Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain's Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency.[131]
GCHQ is the setting of the 2022 Channel 4 drama The Undeclared War. Set in the near future, it depicts a work experience student at the government agency during a cyberattack on the UK and the implications.[132]
GCHQ units:
GCHQ specifics:
UK agencies:
Elsewhere:
