MR JUSTICE BURTON
Approved Judgment
23.
On 17 July 2013 the ISC made a “Statement on GCHQ’s Alleged Interception of
Communications under the US Prism Program”. It had carried out an investigation,
and it reached conclusions which it set out as follows:
“5. Our investigation has included scrutiny of GCHQ’s access
to the content of communications, the legal framework which
governs that access, and the arrangements GCHQ has with its
overseas counterparts for sharing such information. We have
received substantive reports from GCHQ, including:
a list of counter-terrorist operations for which GCHQ was
able to obtain intelligence from the US in any relevant
area;
a list of all the individuals who were subject to monitoring
via such arrangements who were either believed to be in the
UK or were identified as UK nationals;
a list of every ‘selector’ (such as an email address) for
these individuals on which the intelligence was requested;
a list of the warrants and internal authorisations that were
in place for each of these individuals being targeted;
a number (as selected by us) of the intelligence reports that
were produced as a result of this activity; and
the formal agreements that regulated access to this
material.
We discussed the programme with the NSA and our
Congressional counterparts during our recent visit to the
United States. We have also taken oral evidence from the
Director of GCHQ and questioned him in detail.
It has been alleged that GCHQ circumvented UK law by
using the NSA’s PRISM programme to access the content of
private communications. From the evidence we have seen,
we have concluded that this is unfounded.
We have reviewed the reports that GCHQ produced on the
basis of intelligence sought from the US, and we are
satisfied that they conformed with GCHQ’s statutory duties.
The legal authority for this is contained in the Intelligence
Services Act 1994.
Further, in each case where GCHQ sought information
from the US, a warrant for interception, signed by a
Minister, was already in place, in accordance with the legal