CHAPTER 7: PRACTICE
The uses of bulk collection
7.22.
The major use of communications collected in bulk is to detect or improve knowledge
of threats to national security, which can then be subject to targeted examination. As
the ISC put it:
“GCHQ’s bulk interception capability is used primarily to find patterns in, or
characteristics of, online communications which indicate involvement in threats
to national security. The people involved in those communications are
sometimes already known, in which case valuable extra intelligence may be
obtained (e.g. a new person in a terrorist network, a new location to be
monitored, or a new selector to be targeted). In other cases, it exposes
previously unknown individuals or plots that threaten our security which would
not otherwise be detected.”20
The importance of the “target discovery” described in the last sentence was particularly
stressed to me by GCHQ.
7.23.
20
21
This does not mean that suspicion plays no part in the selection of communication
channels for interception, or in the design of the searches that are conducted on the
collected material. Indeed the contrary is true:
(a)
For reasons of resource constraint as well as proportionality, GCHQ considers
carefully what communications channels it seeks to intercept and makes the
case to the Foreign Secretary as part of the preparation for a bulk warrant
issued under RIPA s8(4).
(b)
The selection of targets whose communications are examined by agency
analysts is controlled through an internal process which creates a permanent
auditable record.
(c)
The analyst must show the target to be relevant to the requirements set out in
the certificate21 which accompanies a s8(4) warrant, in effect one or more of
the Government’s PIC, and to meet a statutory intelligence gathering purpose,
e.g. the interests of national security.
(d)
The analyst must also demonstrate proportionality, typically by assessing the
relevance of the communications to the intelligence requirement identified.
Possible collateral intrusion is considered, for example the likelihood that a
domestic fixed telephone line will have more users than the immediate target’s
email account.
ISC Privacy and Security Report, para 90. See, further, 14.43 below.
The ISC has recommended that the certificate be published, ISC Privacy and Security Report,
Conclusion N. See 14.75 and Recommendation 43(b) below.
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