Editing GCHQ (section)

{{Short description|British signals intelligence agency}}
{{Distinguish|HM Government Communications Centre|Conservative Campaign Headquarters}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = Government Communications Headquarters
| nativename      = 
| nativename_a    = 
| nativename_r    = 
| logo            = GCHQ logo.svg
| logo_width      = 
| logo_caption    = 
| picture         = Aerial of GCHQ, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England 24May2017 arp.jpg
| picture_caption = [[The Doughnut]] from above in 2017
| seal            = 
| seal_width      = 
| seal_caption    = 
| formed          = {{start date and age|1919|11|1|df=yes}} (as [[Government Code and Cypher School]])
| preceding1      = [[MI1b]] (Army)
| preceding2      = [[NID25]] (Royal Navy)
| dissolved       = 
| superseding     = 
| jurisdiction    = [[His Majesty's Government]]
| headquarters    = [[The Doughnut]]<br>Hubble Road<br>[[Cheltenham]], England<br>United Kingdom
| coordinates     = {{Coord|51|53|58|N|2|07|28|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title,inline}}
| employees       = 7,181<ref name="ISC_2021-2022">{{Cite web |url=https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ISC-Annual-Report-2021%E2%80%932022.pdf |title=Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament "Annual Report 2021–2022" |access-date=20 December 2022 |archive-date=23 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221223172331/https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ISC-Annual-Report-2021%E2%80%932022.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
| budget          = [[Single Intelligence Account]] (£3.711 billion in 2021–2022)<ref name="ISC_2021-2022" />
| minister1_name  = [[David Lammy]]
| minister1_pfo   = [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]]
| minister2_name  = 
| minister2_pfo   = 
| chief1_name     = [[Anne Keast-Butler]]
| chief1_position = [[Director of GCHQ]]
| chief2_name     = 
| chief2_position = 
| child1_agency   = [[National Cyber Security Centre (United Kingdom)|National Cyber Security Centre]]
| child2_agency   = Composite Signals Organisation
| website         = {{Official URL}}
| footnotes       = {{reflist|group="nb"}}
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}}
'''Government Communications Headquarters''' ('''GCHQ''') is an [[intelligence agency|intelligence]] and [[security agency|security]] organisation responsible for providing [[signals intelligence]] (SIGINT) and [[information assurance]] (IA) to the [[Government of the United Kingdom|government]] and [[British Armed Forces|armed forces]] of the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>[http://www.gchq.gov.uk/who_we_are/Pages/Welcome-to-GCHQ.aspx GCHQ – Welcome to GCHQ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022234355/http://www.gchq.gov.uk/who_we_are/Pages/Welcome-to-GCHQ.aspx |date=22 October 2014 }}, Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 7 July 2014.</ref> Primarily based at [[The Doughnut]] in the suburbs of [[Cheltenham]], GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]] (Foreign Secretary), but it is not a part of the [[Foreign Office]] and its director ranks as a [[Permanent secretary (UK)|Permanent Secretary]].

GCHQ was originally established after the [[First World War]] as the [[Government Code and Cypher School]] (GC&CS)<ref>Headrick, Daniel R. (1991) ''The invisible Weapon: Telecommunications and International Politics 1851-1945'', Oxford UP p219</ref> and was known under that name until 1946. During the [[Second World War]] it was located at [[Bletchley Park]], where it was responsible for breaking the German [[Enigma machine|Enigma codes]]. There are two main components of GCHQ, the Composite Signals Organisation (CSO), which is responsible for gathering information, and the [[National Cyber Security Centre (United Kingdom)|National Cyber Security Centre]] (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 [[National Security Agency]] contractor [[Edward Snowden]] revealed that the agency was in the process of collecting all online and telephone data in the UK via the [[Tempora]] programme.<ref>{{cite magazine|url = https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/24/gchq-tempora-101|title = A simple guide to GCHQ's internet surveillance programme Tempora|magazine = Wired UK|date = 24 June 2013|access-date = 29 August 2017|archive-date = 15 May 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160515020741/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/24/gchq-tempora-101|url-status = live}}</ref> Snowden's revelations began a spate of ongoing [[Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)|disclosures of global surveillance]]. ''[[The Guardian]]'' 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroyed-london|title=NSA files: why the Guardian in London destroyed hard drives of leaked files|work=The Guardian|first=Julian|last=Borger|date=21 August 2013|access-date=27 May 2018|archive-date=4 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204030346/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/20/nsa-snowden-files-drives-destroyed-london|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2014, ''[[The Register]]'' 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 [[Seeb]], Oman, and the close involvement of [[BT Group|BT]] and [[Cable & Wireless plc|Cable & Wireless]] in intercepting internet communications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/revealed_beyond_top_secret_british_intelligence_middleeast_internet_spy_base |title=Revealed: GCHQ's beyond top secret middle eastern internet spy base |work=The Register |first=Duncan |last=Campbell |author-link=Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1952) |date=3 June 2014 |access-date=16 September 2017 |archive-date=25 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625063147/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/revealed_beyond_top_secret_british_intelligence_middleeast_internet_spy_base/ |url-status=live }}</ref>