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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] GCHQ: Spooks in socks and sandals
From:       InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews ! org>
Date:       2010-03-29 6:08:57
Message-ID: Pine.LNX.4.61.1003290008390.4032 () conundrum ! infosecnews ! org
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http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article7078644.ece

By Gordon Carrera
The Sunday Times
March 28, 2010 

Tucked away on the outskirts of Cheltenham is a vast circular structure 
wrapped in razor wire. Getting inside requires passing through layer 
after layer of ever-tightening security. Everyone in the town knows what 
it is - Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) - but few secrets 
of its work emerge.

With about 5,500 employees, GCHQ is Britain's largest but least 
well-known intelligence agency. Its mission is to eavesdrop on global 
communications, hunting for the terrorist phone call, Taliban radio 
traffic or a telling email from a foreign government.

GCHQ operates in a hermetically sealed bubble of security. But the 
building - known as the doughnut because it is round with a hole in the 
middle - is open and airy. Casually dressed people stroll down the main 
thoroughfare, "the street", chat in coffee bars or work in open-plan 
offices. Signs for "serious crime" and "Asia-Pacific team" hint at the 
breadth of their work.

Intruders are unusual in this closed world. As I am escorted around, a 
voice comes across the PA system: "Blinds facing 'the street' in blocks 
A and B should be closed immediately." A glance through a window might 
reveal something secret.

GCHQ's director, Iain Lobban, is keen to show that it is accountable to 
the public but warns: "I don't want to tell you precisely what I can and 
can.t do in terms of exploiting communications because I would see my 
adversaries ... move to different communications behaviour."

[...]


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