Editing GCHQ (section)

====1990s: Post-Cold War restructuring====
The [[Intelligence Services Act 1994]] formalised the activities of the intelligence agencies for the first time, defining their purpose, and the British Parliament's [[Intelligence and Security Committee]] was given a remit to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the three intelligence agencies.<ref name="ISC">{{cite web|title=ISC – About|url=http://isc.independent.gov.uk/|publisher=Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament|access-date=1 December 2013|archive-date=25 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225070246/http://isc.independent.gov.uk/|url-status=live}}</ref> The objectives of GCHQ were defined as working as "in the interests of national security, with particular reference to the defence and foreign policies of His Majesty's government; in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom; and in support of the prevention and the detection of serious crime".<ref name="InTel94">{{cite web|title=Intelligence Services Act 1994|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/13/section/3|publisher=The National Archives|access-date=1 December 2013|archive-date=2 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202105208/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/13/section/3|url-status=live}}</ref> During the introduction of the Intelligence Agency Act in late 1993, the former Prime Minister [[Jim Callaghan]] had described GCHQ as a "full-blown bureaucracy", adding that future bodies created to provide oversight of the intelligence agencies should "investigate whether all the functions that GCHQ carries out today are still necessary."<ref name="Dec93Hans">{{cite web|title=Hansard: December 1993 Intelligence Services Bill|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=9 December 1993|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1993/dec/09/intelligence-services-bill-hl|access-date=11 March 2014|archive-date=19 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319035248/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1993/dec/09/intelligence-services-bill-hl|url-status=live}}</ref>

In late 1993 civil servant [[Michael Quinlan (civil servant)|Michael Quinlan]] advised a deep review of the work of GCHQ following the conclusion of his "Review of Intelligence Requirements and Resources", which had imposed a 3% cut on the agency.{{sfn|Aldrich|2010|p=493}} The [[Chief Secretary to the Treasury]], [[Jonathan Aitken]], subsequently held face to face discussions with the intelligence agency directors to assess further savings in the wake of Quinlan's review. Aldrich (2010) suggests that Sir [[John Adye]], the then Director of GCHQ performed badly in meetings with Aitken, leading Aitken to conclude that GCHQ was "suffering from out-of-date methods of management and out-of-date methods for assessing priorities".{{sfn|Aldrich|2010|p=494}} GCHQ's budget was £850&nbsp;million in 1993, (£{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK|850000000|1993|{{inflation-year|UK}}|r=0}}}} as of {{inflation-year|UK}}){{Inflation-fn|UK}} compared to £125&nbsp;million for the Security Service and SIS (MI5 and MI6). In December 1994 the businessman Roger Hurn was commissioned to begin a review of GCHQ, which was concluded in March 1995.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 495" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=495}}</ref> Hurn's report recommended a cut of £100&nbsp; million in GCHQ's budget; such a large reduction had not been suffered by any British intelligence agency since the end of World War II.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 495"/> The J Division of GCHQ, which had collected SIGINT on Russia, disappeared as a result of the cuts.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 495"/> The cuts had been mostly reversed by 2000 in the wake of threats from [[violent non-state actor]]s, and risks from increased terrorism, organised crime and illegal access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 505" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=505}}</ref>

[[David Omand]] became the Director of GCHQ in 1996, and greatly restructured the agency in the face of new and changing targets and rapid technological change.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 496" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=496}}</ref> Omand introduced the concept of "Sinews" (or "SIGINT New Systems") which allowed more flexible working methods, avoiding overlaps in work by creating fourteen domains, each with a well-defined working scope.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 496"/> The tenure of Omand also saw the construction of a modern new headquarters, intended to consolidate the two old sites at Oakley and Benhall into a single, more open-plan work environment.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 496"/> Located on a 176-acre site in Benhall, it would be the largest building constructed for secret intelligence operations outside the United States.{{sfn|Aldrich|2010|p=9}}<ref name="ferris"/>

Operations at GCHQ's [[Chung Hom Kok]] listening station in Hong Kong ended in 1994.<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 475" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=475}}</ref> GCHQ's Hong Kong operations were extremely important to their relationship with the NSA, who contributed investment and equipment to the station. In anticipation of the [[Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong|transfer of Hong Kong to the Chinese government]] in 1997, the Hong Kong stations operations were moved to [[Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station]] in [[Geraldton]] in [[Western Australia]].<ref name="West2012">{{cite book|author=Nigel West|title=Historical Dictionary of Signals Intelligence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maJbZGwK4BAC&pg=PR27 |date=31 August 2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7391-9|pages=27–}}</ref>

Operations that used GCHQ's intelligence-gathering capabilities in the 1990s included the monitoring of communications of Iraqi soldiers in the [[Gulf War]], of [[dissident republican]] terrorists and the [[Real IRA]], of the various factions involved in the [[Yugoslav Wars]], and of the criminal [[Kenneth Noye]].<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 505"/><ref name="West2012"/><ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 473" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=473}}</ref> In the mid-1990s GCHQ began to assist in the investigation of [[cybercrime]].<ref name="Aldrich, 2010, 489" >{{harvnb|Aldrich|2010|p=489}}</ref>