GCHQ

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an <a href="/facts/Intelligence_agency/r3kDlaeD">intelligence</a> and <a href="/facts/Security_agency/JlsPaP0G">security</a> organisation responsible for providing <a href="/facts/Signals_intelligence/Iwzvw6AW">signals intelligence</a> (SIGINT) and <a href="/facts/Information_assurance/ogm8qTsT">information assurance</a> (IA) to the <a href="/facts/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom/3zLlUWbx">government</a> and <a href="/facts/British_Armed_Forces/9XVvWRfp">armed forces</a> of the <a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2">United Kingdom</a>. Primarily based at <a href="/facts/The_Doughnut/gCp6nEnA">The Doughnut</a> in the suburbs of <a href="/facts/Cheltenham/edrNxGtF">Cheltenham</a>, GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's <a href="/facts/Secretary_of_State_for_Foreign_and_Commonwealth_Affairs/K4Sr7QwU">Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs</a> (Foreign Secretary), but it is not a part of the <a href="/facts/Foreign_Office/QQqx2MwF">Foreign Office</a> and its director ranks as a <a href="/facts/Permanent_secretary_(UK)/pY2REcHH">Permanent Secretary</a>.
GCHQ was originally established after the <a href="/facts/First_World_War/vITTUanQ">First World War</a> as the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and was known under that name until 1946. During the <a href="/facts/Second_World_War/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a> it was located at <a href="/facts/Bletchley_Park/ID0B04WB">Bletchley Park</a>, where it was responsible for breaking the German <a href="/facts/Enigma_machine/FSMJwbCL">Enigma codes</a>. There are two main components of GCHQ, the Composite Signals Organisation (CSO), which is responsible for gathering information, and the <a href="/facts/National_Cyber_Security_Centre_(United_Kingdom)/u3X1682N">National Cyber Security Centre</a> (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 <a href="/facts/National_Security_Agency/Sg6MGV1o">National Security Agency</a> contractor <a href="/facts/Edward_Snowden/yRDLtpH9">Edward Snowden</a> revealed that the agency was in the process of collecting all online and telephone data in the UK via the <a href="/facts/Tempora/WUh3Ic6c">Tempora</a> programme. Snowden's revelations began a spate of ongoing <a href="/facts/Global_surveillance_disclosures_(2013%E2%80%93present)/FaqSXLnC">disclosures of global surveillance</a>. <a href="/facts/The_Guardian/H84wwJYM">The Guardian</a> 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. In June 2014, <a href="/facts/The_Register/3CEJaRob">The Register</a> 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 <a href="/facts/Seeb,_Oman/gvPjRYWU">Seeb</a>, Oman, and the close involvement of <a href="/facts/BT_Group/RV9sGpcD">BT</a> and <a href="/facts/Cable_%26_Wireless_plc/II60J86Y">Cable & Wireless</a> in intercepting internet communications.

GCHQ open-in-new

GCHQ