56
A Democratic Licence to Operate
interception and property warrants and renewals during that year.21 And, as discussed in
Chapter IV, warrant applications and approvals for the interception of communications
and interference with property are periodically audited by senior judges, in the form of
the commissioners.
3.41
A strong culture of dedication and compliance appears to exist across the three SIAs.
Reports from the ISC and various commissioners acknowledge the culture of dedication
to and compliance with internal policies within these agencies. Although the ISR Panel
were unable to undertake an extensive assessment, given the timescales involved and
the lack of powers to request access to information, the Panel did not encounter any
evidence to suggest otherwise.
3.42
The ISR Panel were able to view GCHQ’s Ethical Framework guidance for staff. While
the content of the framework is not in the public domain, clear guidance is in place
for employees who may have any ethical concerns over their work. We were told that
ethical concerns can be raised and discussed freely, particularly with a dedicated ethics
counsellor22 who is available to staff and works in parallel to the staff counsellor, an
external appointee who works across the three agencies and who ‘is a point of contact
for any members of the security and intelligence agencies who have anxieties relating
to the work of their Service which it has not been possible to allay through the ordinary
processes of management or staff relations’.23 A whistle-blowing policy (which pre-dates
the disclosures of Edward Snowden) provides a mechanism by which employees can
raise any concerns over perceived malpractice or impropriety.
Key Challenges for the Security and Intelligence Agencies
3.43
This section draws out three key challenges to the operations of the SIAs, which became
clear to the ISR Panel during their review; Chapter IV addresses the issues of legislation,
oversight and accountability.
Keeping Pace with Technology
3.44
As detailed in Chapter I, the current pace of technological change continues unabated.
An estimated $3 trillion is invested in the Internet globally each year and it is increasingly
hard for governments to compete with the scale of private-sector investment. The number
of Internet-connected devices continues to proliferate. The lack of sufficient technical
understanding among policy-makers and many of the agents of government is part of a
broader national deficiency that one of the ISR Panel members has already highlighted
in a prominent forum. According to Martha Lane Fox, only one British organisation – the
BBC – features among the top hundred most-visited websites in the world, ranked 74th,
while some 10 million adults in the UK – half of them of working age – are not online and
21. Ibid., p. 131.
22. MI5, SIS and GCHQ each have their own ethics counsellor.
23. SIS, ‘Well-Being’, <https://www.sis.gov.uk/careers/working-for-us/well-being.html>.