Spy agency wants all e-mails

Spy agency wants all e-mails
Plan would suck up 3 billion messages daily
Posted: October 08, 2008
11:35 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily


Britain's Government Communications Headquarters

Sir David Pepper, the feisty director-general of GCHQ, Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, is planning to create the most intrusive ever surveillance system in Britain, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The secret electronic spying agency he has run for five years operates from its famous doughnut-shaped building in the pleasant countryside at Cheltenham.

Sir David can be seen strolling around the town – home of one of Britain's most famous girls schools. Dressed in his tweeds and brogues, he could be a landowner on a day out. Instead he is the head of an 8,000-strong team, whose members spend their round-the-clock shifts listening to every conversation their computers can pick up.

Now Sir David wants to go further.

His proposal is to not only intercept the 3 billion e-mails a day sent in the UK but extend the reach of its powerful computers into "hundreds of thousands" of targets in Europe: business firms, defense contractors and communications between diplomats.

From Paris to Berlin, Madrid and Moscow, all will be likely to have their electronic correspondence intercepted on an unprecedented scale. From love notes to business details, they will each be intercepted if Sir David has his way.

Pepper, who has headed GCHQ since 2003, has given the project the innocent sounding title of "Interception Modernization Program." The costs already have reached 5 billion British pounds, or about $8 billion U.S. and are likely to cost-out, say government sources, at around 10 billion pounds.

In his submission to the Treasury, which was supported by Sir John Scarlett, head of MI6, the program is intended for fighting terrorism and criminal gangs.

But this weekend it emerged that mandarins in the treasury and cabinet office have expressed "serious concern" about the cost and the ethical implications of launching IMP.