GCHQ UP TO ITS EARS IN SECRETS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96B01172R000300020006-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 28, 2005
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 28, 1984
• Content Type: NSPR

GC up to its ears in secrets
W ti:LE; fiction writer have
pecan; ed the security and
secret service-',!,15 and
M16-in a romantic and
sometimes grubby light,
G`HQ has been largely
ignored. Yet the role of its
staff of between 7,000 and
} 10,000 in Britain and over.
] 1 ens is regarded by the Bri-
tish and US governments as
much more crucial than the
I conventional intelligence ser-
vices.
fence is
up Pro-
moor.
lanes to
Is
ps have
c propo-
150 ft
iiumber-
K near
'nlv the
ny run-
s0 that
' ommis-
\ational
parish
:edged
tc plan,
.ed on
hs the
Ser-
d the
u n t y
tee are
rotests.
public
n May
:c that
d area
At first sight, the work of
1-GHQ may seem unpromis-
mg as a backdrop to a
thriller : teams of radio oper-
ators listening day and night
to satellite and other tele-
communications traffic,
groups of linguists and math-
emattcians analysing the
significance and the meaning
of ceaseless recordings ;
sophisticated computers
digesting apparently indeci.
pherable noises.
What this means, if those
in Whitehall responsible for
interpreting the information
and advising ministers to do
/11
dr
Release 2005/08/03 : CIA-RDP96B01172R000300020006-2
h-,
Cheltenham centre eavesdrops on
role in Bri`ish intelligence. Richard Norton-Taylor reports
their job properly, is that the
British and US governments
receive early warning of such
events as th-t Soviet invasion
of Afghanistan, or Argentine
naval movements, or unusual
military or diplomatic acti-
vity in Warsaw Pact coun-
tries.
But GCHQ, more and more
integrated with the US
National Security Agency
(NSA), monitors commercial
and private communications
as well as the diplomatic
traffic of allies. It is argued
that it is important to ea""es-
drop on commercial
exchanges since freight
movements, for example, or
oil prices could presage a
more significant development.
There is another techri::al
reason for such apparently
indiscriminate shadowing of
private and government com-
munications. Signals intellir
gence (Sigint) is based on
the .vholesale harvesting of
messages sent via the air
waves or bouncing off satel-
lites. While foreign govern-
ments can try to introduce
counter-measures, private
firms-let alone individuals-
cannot.
James Bamford describes
in his book. The Puzzle
Palace, how the NSA has
maintained a monopoly over
latest computer and cryp-
tographic and receiver tech-
nology developed by private.
companies.
After the importance of in.
tercepting coded enemy mes-
sages was highlighted during;
the second world war Britain
and America signed a secret
UK-USA Sigint pact which
later brought in Canada, Aus.
tralia and New Zealand. They
divided the world between
them, with GCHQ establish-
ing eavesdropping stations on
Ascension Island, and in
friend and foe alike in its central
Bong Gong, Cyprus, South-
east Asia and Africa.
GCI1Q's operations - the
subject of the 1978 ABC sec
rets trial - are officially de-
fined as " the reception and
analysis of foreign communi-
cations and other electronic
transmissions for intelligence
purposes." The NSA is offi-
cially described as having a
much broader task. That is
" the interception and pro-
cessing of foreign commun'--
cations passed by radio, wiry,
or other electro-magnetic
means and the processing of
foreign encrypted communi-
cations, however transmit.
ted." 41
The US Senate discovered
in 1975 that that definition
was being used for surveil-
lance of " individuals or
organisations, involved in
civil disturbances, anti-war
movements, demonstrations
and military deserters inv-
olXed .. ?hr ?. nti.w ar .10I
nleni~... The progr2mme '.v s
code-nal;?ed Minaret. ,..
NSA used
GCf1Q interce,x.,
to help in an Operr.on
uhich - , ad collected files r-I
5,000 people.
The president of Western
Union International told t;,~
US Senate three years lacer
'flat the British governmer.:
had demanded copies of p..1
overseas telegrams handled
tdvv the company since 194.5
Duncan Campbell. the jou;--
nalist, has suggested that the
NSA station at Menwith Hill,
near Harrogate - joinUv
n4anned by British and
American technician. - i;!.
tercepts British overseas tole
phone traffic.
As computer technology
gets ever more sophisticated
and demands by governments
for more and more infor .
ation grow, the NSA and
GCHQ become increasingly
interdependent. But finan-
cially GCHQ becomes more
dependent on the US.
Limit on YTS
trainees in
pi4a1s urged