The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom, maintaining the national security of the United Kingdom, military planning, public safety, and law enforcement in the United Kingdom. The four main agencies are the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6), the Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI). The agencies are organised under three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.
The history of the organisations dates back to the 19th century or earlier. The British intelligence system as we know it today – with components for domestic, foreign, military, and communications intelligence – emerged in the years immediately preceding the First World War.Christopher Andrew, Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (New York: Vintage, 2009) 1-5. Decryption of the Zimmermann Telegram in 1917 was described as the most significant intelligence triumph for Britain during World War I, and one of the earliest occasions on which a piece of signals intelligence influenced world events. During the Second World War and afterwards, many observers regarded Ultra signals intelligence as immensely valuable to the Allies of World War II. In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, GCHQ interceptions of Soviet ship positions were sent directly to the White House. Intelligence cooperation in the post-war period between the United Kingdom and the United States became the cornerstone of Western intelligence gathering and the "Special Relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States.
UK Intelligence Community The UK Intelligence Community consists of the following.
Leadership
National Security Council Joint Intelligence Committee
Administration The National Security Adviser (NSA) is a senior official in the Cabinet Office, based in Whitehall, who serves as the principal adviser to the prime minister of the United Kingdom and Cabinet of the United Kingdom on all national security issues.
Oversight The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament oversees the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the UK Intelligence Community. Complaints are heard by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Other oversight is provided by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
Agencies and other groups The following agencies, groups and organisations fall under the remit of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament: Parent departmentAgency Description of role PersonnelIntelligence and security agenciesForeign OfficeSecret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6)Covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence3,644Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament "Annual Report 2021–2022"Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)Signals intelligence, cryptanalysis and information assurance7,181Home OfficeSecurity Service (MI5)Counter-intelligence and internal security5,259Military intelligenceMinistry of DefenceMilitary Intelligence Services (MIS) All-source military intelligence gathering and analysis 4,115Defence Counter-Intelligence Unit (DCIU)Counter-intelligence to disrupt and deter hostile activityOther intelligence and security organisations and groupsCabinet OfficeNational Security SecretariatSupport the National Security Council and the Joint Intelligence Committee by providing coordination on strategic issues, all-source intelligence analysis, and policy advice to the Prime Minister and other senior ministers.Joint Intelligence OrganisationHome OfficeHomeland Security GroupCounter terrorism and protecting critical national infrastructure1,061Foreign Office and Ministry of DefenceNational Cyber ForceOffensive cyber activity
National technical authorities The UK has three specialist National Technical Authorities (NTAs) that provide protective security advice across government, critical national infrastructure, and sensitive sectors to defend against terrorism and hostile state activities: National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a child agency of GCHQ, responsible for cyber security and information assurance; National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), a child agency of MI5, responsible for physical and personnel protective security; UK National Authority for Counter Eavesdropping (UK NACE), part of FCDO Services, responsible for defending government and national infrastructure against technical espionage and close-access threats.
Other government and national centres
HM Government Communications Centre (HMGCC), designs and develops electronics and software to support the communication needs of the UK Government and the UK Intelligence Community. National Centre for Information Defence, which detects and disrupts foreign information attacks.
History
Origins Organised intelligence collection and planning for the Government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire was established during the 19th century. The War Office, responsible for the administration of the British Army, formed the Intelligence Branch in 1873, which became the Directorate of Military Intelligence. The Admiralty, responsible for command of the Royal Navy, formed the Foreign Intelligence Committee in 1882,Allen. The Foreign Intelligence Committee. p. 68. which evolved into the Naval Intelligence Department (NID) in 1887.
The Committee of Imperial Defence, established in 1902, was responsible for research, and some co-ordination, on issues of military strategy.
The Secret Service Bureau was founded in 1909 as a joint initiative of the Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations in the UK and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the Imperial German government. The Bureau operated alongside but independently of the military. It was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities respectively. This specialisation, formalised before 1914, was a result of the Admiralty intelligence requirements related to the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy.
First World War
In 1916, during the First World War, the two sections underwent administrative changes so that the internal counter-espionage section became the Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5) and the foreign section became the Directorate of Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6), names by which the Security Service and Secret Intelligence Service are commonly known today.
The Naval Intelligence Division led the Royal Navy's highly successful cryptographic efforts, Room 40 (later known as NID25). The decryption of the Zimmermann Telegram was described as the most significant intelligence triumph for Britain during World War I, and one of the earliest occasions on which a piece of signals intelligence influenced world events.
The Imperial War Cabinet was the British Empire's wartime coordinating body.
Interwar In 1919, the Cabinet's Secret Service Committee recommended that a peacetime codebreaking agency should be created.Johnson, 1997, p. 44 Staff were merged from NID25 and MI1b into the new organisation,Johnson, 1997, p. 45 and Kahn, 1991, p. 82 which was given the cover-name the "Government Code and Cypher School" (GC&CS).
The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) was founded in 1936 as a sub-committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence.
Second World War Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, the JIC became the senior intelligence assessment body for the United Kingdom government. During the War, the RAF Intelligence Branch was established, although personnel had been employed in intelligence duties in the RAF since its formation in 1918. The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was operational from 1940 until early 1946. SOE conducted espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and later in occupied Southeast Asia against the Axis powers and aided local resistance movements.
The 1943 British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, BRUSA, connected the signal intercept networks of the GC&CS and counterparts in the U.S. The GC&CS was based largely at Bletchley Park. Its staff, including Alan Turing, worked on cryptanalysis of the Enigma (codenamed Ultra) and Lorenz cipher, and also a large number of other enemy systems. Winston Churchill was reported to have told King George VI, when presenting to him Stewart Menzies (head of the Secret Intelligence Service and the person who controlled distribution of Ultra decrypts to the government): "It is thanks to the secret weapon of General Menzies, put into use on all the fronts, that we won the war!"The source for this quote is Gustave Bertrand, Enigma, p. 256, at the end of a short passage asserting the importance of Enigma-derived intelligence for Allied victory. F. W. Winterbotham quoted the western Supreme Allied Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, at war's end describing Ultra as having been "decisive" to Allied victory. Sir Harry Hinsley, Bletchley Park veteran and official historian of British Intelligence in World War II, made a similar assessment about Ultra, saying that it shortened the war "by not less than two years and probably by four years"; and that, in the absence of Ultra, it is uncertain how the war would have ended.
Cold War
The Government Code and Cypher School was renamed the "Government Communications Headquarters" (GCHQ) in 1946. The Joint Intelligence Bureau (JIB) was established the same year.Dylan, p. xiii It was structured into a series of divisions: procurement (JIB 1), geographic (JIB 2 and JIB 3), defences, ports and beaches (JIB 4), airfields (JIB 5), key points (JIB 6), oil (JIB 7) and telecommunications (JIB 8).Dylan, p. 31
A British military radio operator working at the British Embassy in Moscow discovered in 1951 a listening device, The Thing, at the residence of the US ambassador to the Soviet Union, Spaso House when he happened to tune into Soviet monitoring.
Wartime signals intelligence cooperation between the United Kingdom and the United States continued in the post-war period. The two countries signed the bilateral UKUSA Agreement in 1948. Later broadened to include Canada, Australia and New Zealand, known as the Five Eyes, as well as cooperation with several "third-party" nations, this became the cornerstone of Western intelligence gathering and the "Special Relationship" between the UK and the USA. Since World War II, the chief of the London station of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has attended the Joint Intelligence Committee's weekly meetings. One former US intelligence officer has described this as the "highlight of the job" for the London CIA chief. Resident intelligence chiefs from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand may attend when certain issues are discussed.
The Joint Intelligence Committee moved to the Cabinet Office in 1957 with its assessments staff who prepared intelligence assessments for the committee to consider.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, GCHQ Scarborough intercepted radio communications from Soviet ships reporting their positions and used that to establish where they were heading. A copy of the report was sent directly to the White House Situation Room, providing initial indications of Soviet intentions with regard to the US naval blockade of Cuba.