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A Democratic Licence to Operate

the powers of the agencies are being used lawfully. Legal challenges at the European
Court of Human Rights are ongoing.
3.4

As the UK has become one of the most connected and data-rich countries, the
government and the private sector have gradually constructed one of the most extensive
and technologically advanced digital-intelligence systems in the world. While the ISR
Panel did not consider the entire range of capabilities accessible to the SIAs, we focused
on some of the key issues highlighted by Snowden’s disclosures. Given the exponential
growth in data and the ubiquity of communications technology, we also considered the
impact this had on the police, NCA as well as the UK’s three security and intelligence
agencies. To that end we visited GCHQ, the NCA, the Metropolitan Police, the Security
Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

3.5

On the whole, the ISR Panel found it challenging to reconcile the disclosures made by
Snowden with the oversight systems and processes outlined by the organisations visited.
What was apparent was that in the past neither the government nor the overseers had
felt it necessary to provide information about how the law regarding interception was
actually being applied in practice. As a result, these processes were not well understood
by politicians or the wider public, which made the media’s allegations of wrongdoing all
the more powerful.

3.6

The ISR Panel were also struck by the scale of the challenge facing the police, NCA and
SIAs in this new digital era. In this regard, the development by the College of Policing,
NCA and National Police Chiefs’ Council of a framework for Digital Investigation and
Intelligence is welcome. However, it is also overdue. The police in particular are
struggling to meet the challenge today – let alone develop an approach for the future.
The challenges facing the police from the growth in digital communication include:
•
•
•
•

An increasing volume of crime being committed online
The Internet providing significant new opportunities for investigation
The continuing need to investigate ‘traditional’ crimes but with fewer resources
The need to ensure staff are knowledgeable about and trained in
digital technologies.

The Snowden Disclosures
3.7

This is the landscape in which the disclosures of classified intelligence material by Edward
Snowden first appeared in newspapers in June 2013. Snowden, an American computer
specialist, was formerly an employee of contractors to the NSA. In May 2013, he disclosed
to journalists details of covert US intelligence and surveillance programmes. Estimates
of the number of files Snowden removed from the NSA without authorisation range
from the hundreds of thousands to 1.7 million, though there are no agreed figures. The

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