to be gained from contacts with the Crown Prosecution Service [CPS] and with
prosecuting counsel in terrorism and serious crime cases. I did however benefit
from discussions with Helen Ball, the Police National Coordinator for CounterTerrorism, and with Lynne Owens, Director General of the NCA, both of whom
have knowledge and experience of the value to their operations of bulk
intelligence obtained by the SIAs.
Contact with oversight bodies
1.44.
As detailed in chapter 3 below, the exercise of some or all of the powers under
review has already been considered in depth by a number of bodies and
individuals with access to classified information. Those are the Investigatory
Powers Tribunal, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, the
Interception of Communications Commissioner and the Intelligence Services
Commissioner [IsComm].
1.45.
I have read everything that those bodies and individuals have written about the
powers under review, including material that was redacted from published
reports of the ISC and contained in classified annexes to the reports of the
Commissioners. The Review team has also read a large quantity of evidence
submitted to the IPT (both open and closed), and written and oral evidence
submitted by the SIAs to the ISC.
1.46.
I also contacted and spoke to the President of the IPT (Sir Michael Burton, a
Judge of the High Court) and Jonathan Glasson QC who has acted in relevant
respects as counsel to the IPT; to the Chair of the ISC (Rt Hon. Dominic Grieve
QC MP) and members of its staff; to the Head of the Office of the Interception of
Communications Commissioner (Joanna Cavan OBE); to the Intelligence
Services Commissioner (Sir Mark Waller, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal); and
to the Head of his Office (Susan Cobb).
1.47.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board [PCLOB] is a body of five
lawyers, with technical assistance, which has in the recent past been charged
with reviewing the utility of two capabilities which are said to have similarities
with bulk powers in the Bill. The conclusions of one of those reports have been
much relied upon by NGOs and parliamentarians who are sceptical of the utility
of the powers under review. I first made contact with members of the PCLOB in
2014 during the preparation of AQOT, and have been particularly grateful during
the Review for help from Jim Dempsey, one of its members, in explaining the
background to its reports and subsequent developments.
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