EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
1.
As Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, I am required by the Data
Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 to examine
a.
the threats to the United Kingdom,
b.
the capabilities required to combat those threats,
c.
the safeguards to protect privacy,
d.
the challenges of changing technologies, and
e.
issues relating to transparency and oversight,
before reporting to the Prime Minister on the effectiveness of existing legislation
relating to investigatory powers, and to examine the case for a new or amending law.
2.
The scope of this task extends well beyond the field of counter-terrorism. Public
authorities intercept communications, and collect information about communications,
for a host of other purposes including counter-espionage, counter-proliferation,
missing persons investigations and the detection and prosecution of both internetenabled crime (fraud, cyber-attacks, child sexual exploitation) and crime in general.
3.
The purpose of this Report is:
4.
a.
to inform the public and political debate on these matters, which at its worst
can be polarised, intemperate and characterised by technical
misunderstandings; and
b.
to set out my own proposals for reform, in the form of five governing principles
and 124 specific recommendations.
In conducting my Review I have enjoyed unrestricted access, at the highest level of
security clearance, to the responsible Government Departments (chiefly the Home
Office and FCO) and to the relevant public authorities including police, National Crime
Agency and the three security and intelligence agencies: MI5, MI6 and GCHQ. I have
balanced those contacts by engagement with service providers, independent
technical experts, NGOs, academics, lawyers, judges and regulators, and by factfinding visits to Berlin, California, Washington DC, Ottawa and Brussels.
INFORMING THE DEBATE
5.
The legal, factual and technological position as I understand it from my reading, my
visits and the large number of interviews I have conducted is set out in the first 12
Chapters of this Report.
1