After Charlie Hebdo attack, do spy agencies need more powers? | UK news | The GuardianAfter Charlie Hebdo attack, do spy agencies need more powers? | UK news | The Guardian










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MI5



After Charlie Hebdo attack, do spy agencies need more powers?









And if it is the case that more surveillance powers are required, what should Whitehall demand in terms of extra oversight?














Andrew Parker, the MI5 director general. Photograph: MI5/PA




Ewen MacAskill


Friday 9 January 2015 15.09 EST







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The timing of the speech by the head of MI5, Andrew Parker may have looked cynical: a call for more surveillance powers for the intelligence agencies on Thursday, the day after the attack on Charlie Hebdo’s office. In fact, Parker had long planned this speech and almost all of it had been written, other than a few paragraphs, before the gruesome events unfurled in Paris
But the timing of the events was still lucky for MI5, the mass murder at the satirical magazine and in the streets outside brought home the reality of what the agency is up against.
Politicians such as chancellor George Osborne, unsurprisingly, offered Parker unequivocal support, saying MI5 and the other intelligence agencies, MI6 and the surveillance arm GCHQ, would receive the resources they need.
The chairman of the parliamentary intelligence committee, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, whose remit is supposed to be oversight of the agencies, also offered his support. He told the BBC that terrorists used the internet, email and social messaging, so intelligence agencies “have to have the power to intercept particularly international communications that might be relevant to preventing terrorist attacks”.
Few would want to deny the intelligence agencies the resources they need, especially against the backdrop of the warning by Parker that an attack on the UK is not only “highly likely” but the agencies might not be able to stop it.
But there is discussion to be had over what is meant by “resources”. Parker is not looking for more money – Osborne has already given the intelligence agencies £100m to help counter Islamist militants returning to the UK from the Syrian and Iraqi frontlines.
What Parker was talking about – and what he devoted half his speech to – is more surveillance powers. He said that it has become harder to intercept the communications of terrorists, in part of because of the increased use of encryption. What the home secretary Theresa May and Osborne are looking for is the reintroduction of the “snoopers’ charter” blocked by Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg. There are similar moves by the intelligence services in the US. The new head of GCHQ, Robert Hannigan, made a similar plea late last year.
Privacy advocates say the intelligence agencies in the US and the UK already have enormous surveillance powers.
In one GCHQ document leaked by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, the agency boasted this was “a golden age” for surveillance. The agencies claim that, as a result of the Snowden revelations about the scale of surveillance, the digital footprint of terrorist groups has grown much smaller. The agencies say they have lost up to 30% of their capabilities.
They add that in a post-Snowden backlash, internet and telecom companies are less cooperative. This is what Parker, the other intelligence agencies and May are seeking to redress.
They want legislation that will make it easier to access the data held by the internet and telecom companies, not just phone records but chat lines. And they want those companies to hold all that data for a year or more.
The objection of privacy activists is not to targeted surveillance but the kind of bulk data collection sought by the agencies. Why, privacy advocates argue, do agencies need such bulk data, given they cannot even process information they have about existing targets.
The Paris killers were known to the French intelligence agencies. The Woolwich killers were known to MI5.
Parker warned in his speech of threats by al-Qaida in Yemen and elsewhere and groups in Syria and Iraq such as Islamic State, plots ranging from ones intent on producing mass casualties to individuals unconnected to any group.
Some of these plots are real and serious, such as attempts on aircraft. The intelligence services deserve applause for foiling these. However, other cases fall apart from lack of evidence. Some plots are overhyped, whether by the intelligence agencies or the media.
And there are others, in a world of informers and double-agents that end up messy and confused, an embarrassment to the intelligence agencies involved. This is why the intelligence services need to be held to account.
The speed with which Rifkind came out in support of Parker’s request for more resources made a case more robust democratic oversight than the existing parliamentary intelligence committee, for one that is more sceptical about the workings of the agencies.
The tragic terrorist events in Paris should not be used as an excuse for an extension of the already extensive surveillance powers enjoyed by intelligence agencies.



Topics



MI5




UK security and counter-terrorism




Charlie Hebdo attack




Surveillance




Espionage








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more on this story














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Published: 11 Jan 2015




Ed Miliband rejects calls for revival of snooper’s charter after Paris attacks












The Charlie Hebdo attack was a strike against free speech. So why is the response more surveillance?

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Published: 10 Jan 2015







The Charlie Hebdo attack was a strike against free speech. So why is the response more surveillance?












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Published: 7 Jan 2015




Data retention: lawyers and telcos take aim at 'ill-defined' legislation












When it comes to surveillance, there is everything to play for

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James Ball: 2015 – What’s the big idea?: Against a backdrop of hacks and terror attacks, it’s possible that surveillance powers will be strengthened



Published: 1 Jan 2015




When it comes to surveillance, there is everything to play for














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