Telephone tapping: out of control
01 January 1991
Telephone tapping: out of control
artdoc October=1991
In July Granada's `World in Action' programme carried an
interview with Robin Robison, an administrative officer in the
Joint Intelligence Unit (JIU) until last year. Mr Robison, a
Quaker, resigned because of what he saw as the abuse of power by
the intelligence agencies in monitoring telephone calls, telexes
and other phone transactions. The JIU services the Joint
Intelligence Committee (JIC) which collates and analyses
intelligence from MI5, MI6, GCHQ, and Defence Intelligence (DI).
The programme revealed that GCHQ at Cheltenham and its
listening post at Bude in north Cornwall are routinely gathering
conversations quite unrelated to espionage. In the post Cold War
period the gathering of economic intelligence has moved to the
fore both on UK companies, competitors in Europe, and Third World
countries. It is said that supposedly private communications of
organisations like Rolls Royce, Marconi, British oil and mining
companies are being intercepted.
It was also revealed that individuals whose action might
embarrass the government or state agencies have also been
targeted. These include the telephones of Lieutenant Robert
Lawrence, the Falklands war hero whose story was told in the film
`Tumbledown' because of Ministry of Defence concern over his
claim for compensation; the Vatican and Roman Catholic
archbishops to evaluate their attitude to changes in Eastern
Europe; Kathleen Tacchi-Morris, the founder of Women for World
Disarmament; east European trade unions; and Campbell Christie,
general secretary of the Scottish Trade Union Congress.
The interception of communications is not limited to
individuals. Communications satellites over the Atlantic, Indian
Ocean and the Middle East are routinely trawled through `standard
baseband surveys' or all calls to a particular dialling code are
down loaded. The increased use of `keyword' software now enables
them to select and transcribe a greater volume of traffic. The
legality of this operation is highly questionable. The
Interception of Communications Act was passed in 1985 after
pressure from the European Court of Human Rights. It was supposed
to place limits on those placed under surveillance and the
grounds for doing so. The Act placed the formal responsibility
on the Home Secretary to issue warrants but this GCHQ operation,
run in conjunction with the US National Security Agency, comes
under the Foreign Secretary.
Guardian, 16.7.91 & 17.7.91.
Statewatch no 4 September/October 1991