Editing GCHQ (section)

====2000s: Coping with the Internet====
{{See also|Global surveillance|Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)}}
At the end of 2003, GCHQ moved in to its new building. Built on a circular plan around a large central courtyard, it quickly became known as [[the Doughnut]]. At the time, it was one of the largest public-sector building projects in Europe, with an estimated cost of £337 million. The new building, which was designed by [[Gensler]] and constructed by [[Carillion]], became the base for all of GCHQ's [[Cheltenham]] operations.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/931773.stm |title=Carillion set for growth |work=BBC News |date=19 September 2000 |access-date=22 December 2007 |archive-date=27 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227151049/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/931773.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The public spotlight fell on GCHQ in late 2003 and early 2004 following the sacking of [[Katharine Gun]] after she leaked to ''[[The Observer]]'' a confidential email from agents at the United States' [[National Security Agency]] addressed to GCHQ officers about the wiretapping of UN delegates in the run-up to the [[2003 Iraq war]].<ref>Aldrich, 2010, p. 521</ref>

GCHQ gains its intelligence by monitoring a wide variety of communications and other electronic signals. For this, a number of stations have been established in the UK and overseas. The listening stations are at Cheltenham itself, [[GCHQ Bude|Bude]], [[GCHQ Scarborough|Scarborough]], [[Ascension Island]], and with the United States at [[RAF Menwith Hill]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Campbell |first=Duncan |author-link=Duncan Campbell (journalist, born 1952) |title=Phone tappers and the state |journal=New Statesman |year=1981 |page=54}}</ref> [[Ayios Nikolaos Station]] in Cyprus is run by the [[British Army]] for GCHQ.<ref>Aldrich, 2010, p. 471</ref>

In March 2010, GCHQ was criticised by the [[Intelligence and Security Committee]] for problems with its IT security practices and failing to meet its targets for work targeted against cyber attacks.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=19344 |title= 'Cavalier' GCHQ online spy centre loses 35 laptops |publisher= [[Computerworld UK]] |date= 12 March 2010 |access-date= 12 March 2010 |archive-date= 29 July 2012 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120729004038/http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=19344 |url-status= live }}</ref>

As revealed by [[Edward Snowden]] in ''[[The Guardian]]'', GCHQ spied on foreign politicians visiting the [[2009 G-20 London Summit]] by eavesdropping phonecalls and emails and monitoring their computers, and in some cases even ongoing after the summit via [[keystroke logging]] that had been undertaken during the summit.<ref>''The Guardian'': [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/16/gchq-intercepted-communications-g20-summits GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018004108/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/16/gchq-intercepted-communications-g20-summits |date=18 October 2013 }}, 16 June 2013</ref>

According to Edward Snowden, at that time GCHQ had two principal umbrella programs for collecting communications:
* "[[Mastering the Internet]]" (MTI) for Internet traffic, which is extracted from fibre-optic cables and can be searched by using the [[Tempora]] computer system.
* "[[Global Telecoms Exploitation]]" (GTE) for telephone traffic.<ref name=bump>{{cite web |url=http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/06/uk-tempora-program/66490/ |author=Philip Bump |title=The UK Tempora Program Captures Vast Amounts of Data – and Shares with NSA |publisher=The Atlantic Wire |date=21 June 2013 |access-date=23 June 2013 |archive-date=5 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105105045/http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/06/uk-tempora-program/66490/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

GCHQ has also had access to the US internet monitoring programme [[PRISM]] from at least as far back as June 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=Statement on GCHQ's Alleged Interception of Communications under the US PRISM Programme|url=https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20130717_ISC_statement_GCHQ.pdf|url-status=live|publisher=Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament|access-date=19 April 2023|date=17 July 2013|archive-date=19 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419142038/https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20130717_ISC_statement_GCHQ.pdf}}</ref> PRISM is said to give the [[National Security Agency]] and FBI easy access to the systems of nine of the world's top internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo, and Skype.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22860964 |title= Scale and significance of NSA snooping claims |publisher= BBC |date= 11 June 2013 |access-date= 20 June 2018 |archive-date= 17 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150617020056/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-22860964 |url-status= live }}</ref>

From 2013, GCHQ realised that public attitudes to Sigint had changed and its former unquestioned secrecy was no longer appropriate or acceptable. The growing use of the Internet, together with its inherent insecurities, meant that the communications traffic of private citizens were becoming inextricably mixed with those of their targets and openness in the handling of this issue was becoming essential to their credibility as an organisation. The Internet had become a "cyber commons", with its dominance creating a "second age of Sigint". GCHQ transformed itself accordingly, including greatly expanded Public Relations and Legal departments, and adopting public education in cyber security as an important part of its remit.<ref>Ferris (2020), Chapters 14 and 15.</ref>