http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article7078644.ece By Gordon Carrera The Sunday Times March 28, 2010 Tucked away on the outskirts of Cheltenham is a vast circular structure wrapped in razor wire. Getting inside requires passing through layer after layer of ever-tightening security. Everyone in the town knows what it is - Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) - but few secrets of its work emerge. With about 5,500 employees, GCHQ is Britain's largest but least well-known intelligence agency. Its mission is to eavesdrop on global communications, hunting for the terrorist phone call, Taliban radio traffic or a telling email from a foreign government. GCHQ operates in a hermetically sealed bubble of security. But the building - known as the doughnut because it is round with a hole in the middle - is open and airy. Casually dressed people stroll down the main thoroughfare, "the street", chat in coffee bars or work in open-plan offices. Signs for "serious crime" and "Asia-Pacific team" hint at the breadth of their work. Intruders are unusual in this closed world. As I am escorted around, a voice comes across the PA system: "Blinds facing 'the street' in blocks A and B should be closed immediately." A glance through a window might reveal something secret. GCHQ's director, Iain Lobban, is keen to show that it is accountable to the public but warns: "I don't want to tell you precisely what I can and can.t do in terms of exploiting communications because I would see my adversaries ... move to different communications behaviour." [...] ___________________________________________________________ Register now for HITBSecConf2010 - Dubai, the premier deep-knowledge network security event in the GCC, featuring keynote speakers John Viega and Matt Watchinski! http://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2010dxb/Received on Sun Mar 28 2010 - 23:08:57 PDT
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