Latest news with #GCHQ
Times
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Most state secrets are nothing of the kind
As the double-decker chugged by Lambeth North Tube station, the conductor — this was in the 1970s — would announce the next stop with a chuckle: 'Century House, spies' corner!' The grimy office block housed MI6, which like all Britain's spy agencies then had no official existence. The journalist Duncan Campbell was prosecuted in 1978 for giving the barest outline of the work of GCHQ, Britain's signals intelligence outfit, though neither his scoop nor the bus conductor's joke would have surprised the KGB. During the Cold War it penetrated all our spy agencies. Secrecy is less obsessive now, though the rules — spectacularly breached over Afghan refugees and serving SAS officers — are still strict. The Cabinet Office publishes a helpful manual about definitions and handling of classified information. The DSMA (formerly D-Notice) website lists five topics, such as the storage and transport of nuclear weapons, where the media is asked, sensibly, to restrain its coverage. Real life is much messier. Deliberate leaks, active or merely passive, can serve a useful purpose. It is striking that the US C-17 military transport plane that flew from the US air force's main nuclear weapons storage facility in New Mexico to RAF Lakenheath last week kept its transponder switched on. Online plane-spotters gleefully publicised its flight path. Short of a Pentagon press release that the US was putting nuclear weapons back in Britain for the first time in 17 years, the message could have hardly been clearer. The ban-the-bomb lot may complain but an ostentatious sign that the Trump administration is boosting its commitment to our defence sends a useful warning to the Kremlin. Other leaks stem from shabbier motives. People in all walks of life like to boast. That is why a Grenadier Guards regimental newsletter proudly listed the names of officers now living their best lives with the SAS. Civil servants may be punctiliously tight-lipped but their political masters (and worse, their spin doctors) are easily tempted by the prospect of a favourable headline. Leaks get worse when information is shared between countries. Our American allies can be extraordinarily careless with our secrets, and vice versa. Contractors are even sloppier. The US-based Cyber Intel Systems lists on its website the exact colour shades used for Britain's classification labels: mischief-makers might find that handy. As I was leaving a meeting in spookdom, an official made me tear off the purple 'TOP SECRET' logo from a sheet of paper bearing something entirely innocuous, explaining 'we don't want to see that on the internet'. Even real secrets rarely matter for long. Today's troop movements are tomorrow's irrelevance. The most sizzling political intelligence ('Putin fell over again this morning') rapidly becomes stale: perhaps made redundant by subsequent events, or because it reaches the media. Much more important than the actual information is protecting sources and methods that may provide more nuggets in the future. Any clues to past activity may help enemies to work out current and future doings. Adversaries' ability to spot patterns and anomalies is the hottest topic in the world of secrets right now, and a top preoccupation for the incoming chief of MI6, Blaise Metreweli. The legal revolution of the 1990s, in which our spy agencies gained avowed status and oversight, and later websites and press offices, is dwarfed by the havoc wrought by the digital age on the staples of espionage: tradecraft and cover identities, which conceal secret activity in seemingly inconspicuous behaviour. • MoD hid Afghan leak from MPs For modern-day spies heading to work at our agencies' now far more imposing London headquarters, for example, the worry is not a jocular bus conductor but the CCTV on public transport. Coupled with face-recognition software, and with the other digital clues left in daily life (mobile phone use, electronic payments, credit ratings), and the unlimited availability of computer processing power and storage, this risks making even the most shadowy corners of government an open book. Our enemies can create and search databases to reveal and track our intelligence officers and their military counterparts, and those they work with. (Of course it helps if, as in the case of Afghans seeking refuge here, we create the database ourselves and distribute it by email.) Accountability is flimsy. Our best bet is parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), but past governments have starved it of clout and staff, with a budget frozen since 2013. The ISC issued a blistering protest in May, saying that it in effect had 'no oversight' of the £3 billion we spend annually on spookdom. Despite a judge's recommendation the government sidelined the ISC over the Afghan scandal (which may cost another billion pounds of public money). That was a scandalous breach of the rules: MI6 officers' names were leaked in the database. The ISC is now investigating that, and the government has promised more resources. It has even been able to meet the prime minister, for the first time, shockingly, in more than ten years. But to be truly effective, the ISC should oversee not only intelligence agencies, but other secret bits of government. The special forces, for example, escape regular scrutiny: too secret for parliament's defence committee, and never discussed publicly by ministers. Yet scandals, and self-serving memoirs, abound. Secrecy, like privacy, is essential to our society, economy, legal system and defence. But without proper scrutiny from judges and politicians it spares our decision-makers' blushes, not the victims of their blunders. We all lose out from that.
The Independent
a day ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Former Whitehall chief Simon Case takes seat on red benches in House of Lords
Former top civil servant Simon Case has taken his seat in the House of Lords. The 46-year-old, who served four prime ministers, joins the independent crossbenches in the unelected chamber, which scrutinises legislation and acts as a check on the Government. Lord Case wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the chamber, where he swore allegiance to the King. He was supported by former Whitehall chief Lord Butler of Brockwell and Lord Chartres, a retired bishop of London. Lord Case became cabinet secretary and head of the Civil Service aged just 41 in September 2020, having previously served as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge. He had also worked for the GCHQ intelligence agency. He stepped down from the top Whitehall job at the end of 2024 on health grounds after a turbulent four years in the role, which included the Covid-19 pandemic, Tory infighting, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. His tenure was not without controversy, as he was forced to recuse himself from leading an investigation into the 'Partygate' scandal following allegations his office had held a Christmas event during lockdown. Lord Case was not one of those fined over the episode. Appointed by Boris Johnson, he held the post under the subsequent administrations of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer. He was succeeded by Sir Chris Wormald.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Whitehall chief Simon Case takes seat on red benches in House of Lords
Former top civil servant Simon Case has taken his seat in the House of Lords. The 46-year-old, who served four prime ministers, joins the independent crossbenches in the unelected chamber, which scrutinises legislation and acts as a check on the Government. Lord Case wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in the chamber, where he swore allegiance to the King. He was supported by former Whitehall chief Lord Butler of Brockwell and Lord Chartres, a retired bishop of London. Lord Case became cabinet secretary and head of the Civil Service aged just 41 in September 2020, having previously served as private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge. He had also worked for the GCHQ intelligence agency. He stepped down from the top Whitehall job at the end of 2024 on health grounds after a turbulent four years in the role, which included the Covid-19 pandemic, Tory infighting, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the death of Queen Elizabeth II. His tenure was not without controversy, as he was forced to recuse himself from leading an investigation into the 'Partygate' scandal following allegations his office had held a Christmas event during lockdown. Lord Case was not one of those fined over the episode. Appointed by Boris Johnson, he held the post under the subsequent administrations of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer. He was succeeded by Sir Chris Wormald.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Security committee launches inquiry into Afghan data leak
Parliament's intelligence watchdog has announced it will launch an inquiry into a major data breach which compromised the identities of thousands of Afghans and British military officials. The data leak prompted a super-injunction which meant the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which routinely reviews sensitive material, was not briefed until last Lord Beamish said all intelligence documents related to the case should be provided "immediately" for peer had previously voiced concern over "serious constitutional issues" raised by the handling of the breach, which went undiscovered for more than a year before the gagging order was requested. The ISC oversees the work of MI5, MI6 and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).In a statement on Monday, Lord Beamish said the cross-party group would "conduct an inquiry into the intelligence community's role and activity in connection with the loss of data" after considering defence assessments related to the ISC has argued that - under the Justice and Security Act 2013 - classification of material is not grounds on which information can be withheld from the committee, given its purpose is to scrutinise the work of the UK intelligence leak was made in February 2022 by someone working at UK Special Forces headquarters in London, who inadvertently emailed a spreadsheet containing more than 30,000 resettlement applications to an individual outside of government, thinking that he was sending data on just 150 data breach was only identified in August 2023, when a man in Afghanistan made a Facebook post identifying nine individuals and indicated he could release the rest, in a sequence of events that government sources said was "essentially blackmail". The Ministry of Defence applied for a gagging order in September 2023, due to the risk of reprisals from the Taliban against nearly 19,000 Afghans who were revealed to have worked with British forces in High Court put a highly-restrictive super-injunction in place, meaning even the existence of the gagging order could not be reported until a judge lifted the order last discovery of the data breach forced the government to covertly set up the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) to bring some 7,000 of those affected to the UK at a projected final cost of about £850m.A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the government would "robustly defend" any legal action or bid for compensation, adding these were "hypothetical claims".It has also been reported that the MoD will not proactively offer compensation to those affected. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to read top political analysis, gain insight from across the UK and stay up to speed with the big moments. It'll be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Irish Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Only geniuses can find the goat's owner in this tricky brainteaser
A deceptively difficult brainteaser is leaving people across Ireland utterly stumped - but once you've cracked it, it'll seem glaringly obvious. It's time to put your visual skills to the ultimate test and risk falling out with your entire family, by tackling this challenging goat-themed puzzle. You'll be up against the clock, so a calm disposition and rapid reaction times are also essential. Brainteasers like this one might seem like a mere bit of fun - or a handy distraction on your morning commute - but research has suggested they might actually help our central nervous system. This can result in a slew of cognitive benefits, including better attention span and concentration levels. So, let's dive straight in... Where is the goat's owner? In the image above, you can easily spot a goat munching on some foliage, perhaps living the high life in the Irish countryside. But, something seems to be missing... Where is his owner? Hidden within the black-and-white picture is actually a woman, and you've got just five seconds to locate her to prove you have the 'most attentive' eyes. Fail, and it's probably time you booked that appointment at Specsavers. As previously reported, we can't really drop any hints for this tricky brainteaser without simply handing you the answer. However, zooming in on the image might be useful. Throwing in the towel already, or reckon you've finally cracked it? Scroll down to the bottom of the article for the answer - but no cheating. If this optical illusion proved no challenge for someone with eagle-eyed vision like yourself, you might fancy taking on something a tad more demanding. This puzzling conundrum is devised by the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and can only be solved by someone with spy-worthy analytical abilities. Seriously, you'll need to be a modern-day genius to crack this one. With your 007 thinking cap on, can you figure out which of the below words or sentences is the odd one out? If you think you've got it, you can check your answer here. Catwoman Deus Ex Machina Parishioner Pyromania Scuba Did you get the answer right? Let us know in the comments section below Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
