IPCO Annual Report 2017
11. Intelligence Services
Act 1994 – Section 7
Authorisations
Description of powers and use
11.1
Section 7 of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (ISA) refers to activity that SIS and GCHQ
carry out outside the British Islands. Under s.7, the Secretary of State may authorise SIS or
GCHQ to undertake a specific act or a range of activities, such as those to support covert
activities overseas. It is important to understand that the authorisation removes any
liability under the criminal or civil law of the United Kingdom for what is done. The agency
needs to demonstrate that the activity is necessary for the discharge of one or more of its
functions. The Government sets the requirements and priorities for GCHQ and SIS centrally.
11.2
The activities that can be authorised under s.7 are broad. They may be highly intrusive or
they may result in no interference with privacy. Where the activity is intrusive, the agency
requesting authorisation must make this clear to the Secretary of State in its application and
implement an internal senior-level scrutiny process to demonstrate clearly how they have
considered necessity and proportionality.
11.3
GCHQ and SIS often act under class authorisations, which cover a type of activity rather
than a specific operation. Depending on the scope of the authorisation, an internal approval
process may be implemented which seeks to ensure that the necessity and proportionality
of each operation is considered and documented.
The authorisation process
11.4
When applying for an authorisation, each agency must demonstrate to the Secretary of
State (in this context the Foreign Secretary), how the suggested activities meet government
priorities in line with the agency’s statutory functions, and why they are necessary, proper
and reasonable. In addition to ensuring the intelligence agencies act only within the
authorisation from the Secretary of State, the authorisation under s.7 removes personal
liability under UK law where an officer has been acting in good faith within the parameters
of the authorisation.
How IPCO oversees these powers
11.5
Sir John Goldring, the deputy IPC, leads this area of oversight. IPCO conducted two
inspections of GCHQ and SIS, in the spring and autumn of 2017, along with two of SIS’s
overseas stations in early 2017. We carried out separate inspections of the FCO as regards
its work with SIS and GCHQ during the summer of 2017.
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