The UK intelligence agency GCHQ has been engaged with American intelligence for decades, serving as “a field office for the US intelligence infrastructure,” former MI5 agent Annie Machon has told RT.
The former intelligence officer says that UK agencies need US
help to broaden the coverage range, while the US spy agencies
rely on Britain to circumvent legal issues.
RT:What's all the fuss about - surely close allies
should be working close together?
Annie Machon: Absolutely, and they have been for decades.
One thing that people tend to forget is there is an old program
of mutual assistance that was called the “Echelon” which was
exposed in the 1980s and then fed into the European parliament in
the 1990s which led to a report that said Europe should develop
its own, standalone internet infrastructure not to depend on US
infrastructure. Of course this came out just before 9/11 and has
been lost in the security panic that happened afterwards.
So, this sort assistance has been going on for decades, let’s not
have doubt about that. And it’s also a good way for NSA and GCHQ
to circumvent domestic laws and domestic warrant requirements so
they can spy on each other and then feed each other the same
information they needed back without going through the courts. So
it has always been kind of a corrupt relationship.
However I think, these revelations that came out in the Guardian,
take it to a whole new level. We are now looking at GCHQ
effectively prostituting itself to the NSA. They are saying, we
can get around some of the laws, we can help you. We would go to
any degree to help you, give us your money.
RT:But why? Because you said earlier that they are
mutually benefiting each other, yet at the same time there’s talk
that UK is doing the US’s dirty work, but surely both are helping
each other here?
AM: The GCHQ always benefited more from the relationship,
because the NSA coverage was far wider and they are desperate to
keep that toehold influence over Americans. And that is why we
see these quotes coming out saying, they need to seem to be doing
everything that they can to help the Americans. That is a
problem. It certainly shows asymmetric relationship between two
agencies. We have become effectively in UK a field office for the
US intelligence infrastructure. And it is sort of ironic, because
at the moment I’m in the Netherlands at a hacker festival called
OHM2013. I’m here doing lots of talking on whistleblowing and
surveillance and Big Brother states with a number of key
whistleblowers from the US and this is a common theme that comes
up and have we just agreed to award Edward Snowden something
called Sam Adams Award for integrity and intelligence. The fact
that he has gone public with all this stuff, the fact that he is
showing this growing and endemic corruption between the US and UK
intelligence agencies, needs recognition and we need to be able
to give it to him soon.
RT:But has he achieved anything apart from getting
that award you’ve just mentioned? Even US Congress said that
surveillance will continue…
AM: Well unfortunately it’s unlikely, but I think he is
the most significant modern whistleblower, even greater than
Daniel Ellsberg, because he has shown that we’re all globally
under surveillance. We are moving rapidly into isotopic Big
Brother surveillance society, and it’s not just the Americans.
All of us are subject to that. He has done the world’s population
a huge service and I hope world’s population will do him a huge
service by supporting him and fighting for him.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.