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GCHQ: past and present (1)

01 January 1991

GCHQ: past and present
artdoc April=1992

The last Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, said in 1984 that: `There
is an inherent conflict between the structure of trade unions and
loyalty to the state'. Eight years ago the government decided to
ban trade unions at the Government Communications Headquarters
(GCHQ) at Cheltenham. A new book `A conflict of loyalties' by
Hugh Lanning and Richard Norton-Taylor (New Clarion Press, 230
pages) tells a story that needs to be recorded of the ban and the
union fightback.

By chance a `secret' document released in the Public Records
Office in January sets out the original purpose of GCHQ in 1960.
Its two jobs were defined as Communications Security (COMSEC) to
secure UK communications and those of its allies, and Signals
Intelligence (SIGINT). SIGINT being set out as: `the analysis and
where possible the reduction of the security of other
government's communications'. It goes on to note that the
`relationship of communicator and interceptor is non-cooperative'
and thus requiring sophisticated and expensive technology.
Public Records Office, WO/95/14887 (uncovered by Rob Evans of the
Campaign Against Military Research on Campus).

Statewatch Vol 2 No 2 March/April 1992