The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance. GCHQ provides the UK government and armed forces with signals intelligence as required under the guidance of the Joint Intelligence Committee in support of government policies. The Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) is the branch of GCHQ which works to secure the communications and information systems of government and critical parts of UK national infrastructure. An intelligence agency is a governmental organization devoted to gathering of information by means of espionage (spying), communication interception, cryptoanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. ... SIGINT stands for SIGnals INTelligence, which is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether by radio interception or other means. ... Information security deals with several different trust aspects of information. ... The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) was founded in 1936 as a sub-committee of the Chiefs of Staff. ...

GCHQ was previously known as the Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS) before 1946. 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

GCHQ is the responsibility of the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (colloquially called the Foreign Secretary) is a member of the British Government responsible for relations with foreign countries, heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (often called simply the Foreign Office). ...

Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS)

The Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS) was founded in 1919, and was created by merging the wartime signals intelligence organisations of the Navy (Room 40) and the Army (MI1b). Alastair Denniston was appointed the operational head with the title of Deputy Director. Initially, GC&CS was under the control of the Admiralty, but later, with its focus on diplomatic traffic, was placed under the control of the Foreign Office in 1922. 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... SIGINT stands for SIGnals INTelligence, which is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether by radio interception or other means. ... In the history of cryptography, Room 40 (formally I.D. 25) was the room in the Admiralty which was the first location of the British cryptography effort during World War I. It was formed shortly after the start of the war in October 1914, as a result of codebooks and... Alexander Guthrie (Alastair) Denniston (1 December 1881–1 January 1961) was a British codebreaker in Room 40 and first head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). ... Old Admiralty House, Whitehall, London, Thomas Ripley, architect, 1723-26, was not admired by his contemporaries and earned him some scathing couplets from Alexander Pope The Admiralty was historically the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

In the 1920s, GC&CS was successfully reading Soviet Union diplomatic ciphers. However, the British government made details from the decrypts public prompting the Soviet to change their systems to more secure schemes, including the one-time pad, in 1927. Excerpt from a one time pad. ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

During the Second World War, GC&CS was based at Bletchley Park, famously reading German Enigma machine ciphers. In 1940, GC&CS were working on the diplomatic codes and ciphers of 26 countries, tackling over 150 diplomatic cryptosystems. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... During World War II, British and American cryptographers at Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers, including the German Enigma machine. ... In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

After World War II

GCHQ was at first based in London, but in 1953 moved to the outskirts of Cheltenham, setting up two sites there - Oakley and Benhall. It was not officially avowed until 1983. The following year GCHQ was the centre of a political row when the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher prohibited its employees from joining a Trade Union. It was claimed that joining such a union would be in conflict with national security. The ban was eventually lifted by the incoming Labour government in 1997. Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The centre of Cheltenham. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right-of-centre in the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC, FRS (born 13 October 1925), is a British politician. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union in Commonwealth English) is an organisation formed by workers. ... Security measures taken to protect the Houses of Parliament in London, England. ... The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Post Cold War

Since 1994, GCHQ activities have been subject to scrutiny by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The Intelligence and Security Committee is a unique committee, as it is not a committee of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Post-Cold War, the aims of GCHQ were set out by the Intelligence Services Act (1994). At the end of 2003, GCHQ moved to a new 'doughnut' shaped HQ, at the time the second largest public sector building project in Europe with an estimated cost of just under £350 million. The new building is the base for all of GCHQ's Cheltenham operations. For the generic term for a high-tension struggle between countries, see cold war (war). ... Intelligence Services Act 1994 (c. ... The centre of Cheltenham. ...

GCHQ gains its intelligence by monitoring a wide variety of communications and other electronic signals. For this a number of stations have been established in the UK and overseas which are run by the Composite Signals Organisation for GCHQ. The Composite Signals Organisation Station, at Morwenstow near Bude, Cornwall is directly subordinate to GCHQ. The listening stations are at Cheltenham itself, GCHQ CSO Morwenstow, GCHQ CSO Ascension Island, with the Americans at Menwith Hill, and the Columbia Annex (CANX). Location within the British Isles Bude (Cornish: Bud) is a small resort town and watering-place in Cornwall on the north coast at the mouth of the river Neet. ... Motto: Onan hag oll (Cornish: One and all) Cornwall, England Geography Status Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county Region South West England Area - Total - Admin. ... Ascension Island from space, December 1990 Ascension Island is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean, and includes tiny satellite islands and rocks such as Boatswain Bird Island, Boatswain Bird Rock (East), White Rocks (South), and Tartar Rock (West, at the shore of Georgetown). ... Menwith Hill from the air RAF Menwith Hill is an intelligence-gathering base located approximately eight miles west of the town of Harrogate, UK, 54°00′N 1°41′W. Founded in the 1950s to monitor High Frequency radio communications, it has been operated since 1966 by the US National...

In addition to SIGINT, GCHQ provides assistance to Government Departments on their own communications security. This task is given to the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG) of GCHQ. CESG is the UK national technical authority for information assurance, including cryptography. CESG does not manufacture security equipment, but works with industry to ensure the availability of suitable products and services, while GCHQ itself can fund research into such areas, for example to the Centre for Quantum Computing at Oxford University. Information security deals with several different trust aspects of information. ... Cryptography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... The University of Oxford, located in the city of Oxford in England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ...

ECHELON

GCHQ, in combination with the equivalent agencies in the United States (NSA), Canada (Communications Security Establishment) and Australia (Defence Signals Directorate) and otherwise known as the UKUSA group, is believed to be responsible for, among other things, the operation of the ECHELON system. Its capabilities are suspected to include the ability to monitor a large proportion of the world's transmitted civilian telephone, fax and data traffic. NSA can stand for: National Security Agency of the USA The British Librarys National Sound Archive This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The CSE badge The Communications Security Establishment or CSE is an intelligence agency of the Canadian government, charged with the duty of keeping track of foreign signals intelligence. ... The Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) is Australias signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection agency. ... The UKUSA Community is an alliance of English-speaking nations for the purpose of gathering intelligence via signals intelligence. ... Antenna 4 (through the wire) in former Echelon intelligence gathering station at Silvermine, Cape Peninsula, South Africa. ...

The public spotlight fell on GCHQ in late 2003 and early 2004 following the sacking of Katharine Gun after she leaked a confidential email from agents at the American National Security Agency to GCHQ agents about the wire-tapping of UN delegates in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war. Katharine Teresa Gun (born 1974) is a former employee of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency. ... NSA redirects here. ... The 2003 Invasion of Iraq began on March 20 comprising United States and United Kingdom forces (98%), and several other nations. ...

GCHQ and the Constitution

GCHQ actually determined the scope of judicial review on prerogative (residual powers from common law), in a very controversial case. This occurred in Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service [1985] AC 347. In this case, a prerogative order in council was used by the Prime minister 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 because it is carried out in the pursuit of power derived from common law. (Ie prerogative is reviewable). Controversially, they also held that though the failure to consult was unfair, it was overriden by concerns of national security.

Leadership

The following is a list of the heads of GCHQ and GC&CS [1], [2]:

• Alastair Denniston (1921-1944)
• Sir Edward Travis (1944-1952)
• Sir Eric Jones (1952-1960)
• Sir Clive Loehnis (1960-1964)
• Sir Leonard Hooper (1965-1973)
• Sir Arthur Bonsall (1973-1978)
• Sir Brian John Maynard Tovey (1978-1983)
• Sir Peter Marychurch (1983-1989)
• Sir John Anthony Adye (1989-1996)
• Sir David Omand (July 1996-December 1997)
• Kevin Tebbit (January 1998-July 1998)
• Francis Richards (July 1998-April 2003)
• Sir David Pepper (April 2003 to present)

Alexander Guthrie (Alastair) Denniston (1 December 1881–1 January 1961) was a British codebreaker in Room 40 and first head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS). ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir Edward Wilfred Harry Travis (24 September 1888–23 April 1956) was a cryptographer, becoming the director of Bletchley Park during World War II. Travis joined the Navy in 1906, and served on the HMS Iron Duke. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Sir Francis Richards (1945 - ), KCMG CVO, was appointed Her Majestys Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar in 2003. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... David Pepper, Director of GCHQ David Pepper (born 1947 or 1948) is the current (as of 2005) director of GCHQ, appointed in April 2003 to succeed Francis Richards. ... 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Bletchley Park
• MI8
• Zircon, the cancelled GCHQ satellite project
• Hugh Alexander — head of cryptanalysis at GCHQ from 1949–1971
• Alan Turing

During World War II, British and American cryptographers at Bletchley Park broke a large number of Axis codes and ciphers, including the German Enigma machine. ... The name MI8 was temporarily applied to a cryptography effort mounted within the US Army during World War I. Herbert Yardley was assigned to this unit during the War, and after it continued his cryptographic work during the 1920s at what Yardley called the American Black Chamber in his book... Zircon was the codename for a British signals intelligence satellite, intended to be launched in 1988, before being cancelled. ... (Conel) Hugh ODonel Alexander (19 April 1909–15 February 1974) was a British cryptanalyst and slave-owning fuck-tard. ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Alan Turing is often considered the father of modern computer science. ...

External links

• GCHQ homepage
• CESG homepage
• Unofficial page on GCHQ