to GCHQ obtaining an incomplete picture where such partnerships were unavailable or
ineffective in obtaining the necessary data. As a result, GCHQ would have been able to
provide only limited assurance that possible further attack planning had been identified
or ruled out.
Further analysis enabled GCHQ to identify other extremists, based in Syria and
suspected of planning terrorist attacks against the West. Ongoing development, using
data obtained under bulk interception and other intelligence community capabilities, has
formed an important part of UK and European partners’ knowledge and understanding of
these attacks in France.
The Review team was given details which demonstrated that, without the ability to
interrogate secondary data obtained through bulk interception, GCHQ would not have
obtained any of the intelligence derived from this lead.
Case study A8/4
GCHQ
Identify/target discovery and development
Counter-terrorism
Summarised in A Question of Trust Annex 9 Case Study 2
In this 2009-2010 operation, GCHQ used bulk data to identify, and monitor the activity of,
a senior Al Qaida leader and his network in a Middle Eastern country; they had been
behind a plot to attack Western interests. These individuals went to great lengths to try to
hide their communications; the use of bulk data was vital to GCHQ’s work in keeping
track of them. Ultimately, the interrogation of this bulk data led to the identification of an
individual in the UK who, it transpired, had offered to use his access to an airport to
launch a terrorist attack from the UK. Following an investigation, he was convicted on
terrorism charges.
Case study A8/5
GCHQ
Identify/target discovery and development/action
Counter-terrorism
Summarised in the Operational Case and A Question of Trust Annex 9 Case Study 3
Many Syria-based extremists with links to the UK and the West, including those involved
in attack planning, make sophisticated efforts to avoid detection by the SIAs. The
interrogation of bulk data is the principal tool used by GCHQ’s counter-terrorism analysts
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