GCHQ’s Alleged Interception of Communications under PRISM

This statement was obtained from the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament web site, July 17, 2013.

INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY COMMITTEE OF PARLIAMENT  Chairman: The Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP   Statement on GCHQ’s Alleged Interception of Communications under the US PRISM Programme  Introduction  1. Over the last month, details of highly classified intelligence-gathering programmes run by the US signals intelligence agency – the National Security Agency (NSA) – have been leaked in both the US and the UK. Stories in the media have focussed on the collection of communications data and of communications content by the NSA. These have included the collection of bulk ‘meta-data’ from a large communications provider (Verizon), and also access to communications content via a number of large US internet companies (under the PRISM programme).  2. The legal arrangements governing these NSA accesses, and the oversight and scrutiny regimes to which they are subject, are matters for the US Congress and courts. However some of the stories have included allegations about the activities of the UK’s own signals intelligence agency, GCHQ. While some of the stories are not surprising, given GCHQ’s publicly acknowledged remit, there is one very serious allegation amongst them – namely that GCHQ acted illegally by accessing communications content via the PRISM programme. What is the PRISM programme? 3. PRISM is a programme through which the US Government obtains intelligence material (such as communications) from Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The US administration has stated that the programme is regulated under the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and applications for access to material through PRISM have to be approved by the FISA Court, which is comprised of 11 senior judges. Access under PRISM is specific and targeted (not a broad ‘data mining’ capability, as has been alleged). 4. Stories in the media have asserted that GCHQ had access to PRISM and thereby to the content of communications in the UK without proper authorisation. It is argued that, in so doing, GCHQ circumvented UK law. This is a matter of very serious concern: if true, it would constitute a serious violation of the rights of UK citizens. Our investigation 5. The ISC has taken detailed evidence from GCHQ. 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 individual 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.  Next Steps  6. Although we have concluded that GCHQ has not circumvented or attempted to circumvent UK law, it is proper to consider further whether the current statutory framework2 7. In some areas the legislation is expressed in general terms and more detailed policies and procedures have, rightly, been put in place around this work by GCHQ in order to ensure compliance with their statutory obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998. We are therefore examining the complex interaction between the Intelligence Services Act, the Human Rights Act and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and the policies and procedures that underpin them, further. We note that the Interception of Communications Commissioner is also considering this issue.   1 There are other matters arising from the leaks that we are considering, although we note that none alleges – as the PRISM story did – any illegality on the part of GCHQ.  2 The Intelligence Services Act 1994, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life

NASA's Kepler mission successfully launched into space from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta II rocket on Friday, March 6, 2009. According to NASA, Kepler is designed to find the first Earth-size planets with water – essential for life as we know it to develop.

The first planets that Kepler will explore are expected to be the "hot Jupiters" -- gas giants that circle close and fast around their stars. NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be able to follow up with these planets and learn more about their atmospheres. Neptune-size planets will most likely be found next, followed by rocky ones as small as Earth. The true Earth analogs -- Earth-sized planets orbiting stars like our sun at distances where surface water, and possibly life, could exist -- would take at least three years to discover and confirm. Ground-based telescopes also will contribute to the mission by verifying some of the finds.

NASA says that in the end, Kepler will give us our first look at the frequency of Earth-size planets in our Milky Way galaxy, as well as the frequency of Earth-size planets that could theoretically be habitable. According to NASA, "Even if we find no planets like Earth, that by itself would be profound. It would indicate that we are probably alone in the galaxy."

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In December 2000, the research vessel Atlantis, a deep submersible, found an entirely new type of hydrothermal vent field, where active chimneys were emitting water heated to a relatively cool 100°F (40°C) to 170°F (80°C). They called the field "Lost City." The heat resulted from a chemical reaction between water and a subcrustal rock called peridotite. When the alkaline solution emerged, calcium carbonate crystallized, building shapes like stalagmites.

Until Lost City was found, most known deep-sea vents sprang from young, volcanically active regions such as mid-ocean ridges, where sulfide chimneys expel water as hot as 760°F (400°C). Yet Lost City's formations lie nine miles from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on 1.5-million-year-old rock in an alkaline environment that may be similar to that of early Earth.

More fascinating still, the recent study of deep-sea vents reveals that surrounding life is based on chemosynthesis, the conversion of chemical energy into biomass, rather than photosynthesis, which converts light into biomass. Such a discovery broadens the search for life in the universe.

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The most enduring and compelling question for man is, "Are we alone in the universe?" By that, we mean are there others out there like us? That's why the term extraterrestrial life is usually qualified by "intelligent life as we know it." That's a problem, because intelligent extraterrestrial life may be nothing like what we know.

As it happens, there is no universally agreed upon definition of intelligence. We tend to think of human intelligence as involving higher order reasoning -- a cognitive ability that lets us learn from, adapt to, and deal effectively with our environment. We are predisposed, one might say, prejudiced, to see this ability emanating from an organ -- the brain -- in an individual body. Seth Shostak , a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, when asked what extraterrestrials might look like said, “They'll be bigger than a breadbox and probably smaller than an elephant, would be my guess.” Think ET.

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Intelligent life need not take the form we envision, however. Extraterrestrial intelligence may exist in a distributed form. It's interesting to note, for example, that SETI itself is using a form of distributed intelligence to explore the cosmos for extraterrestrial intelligence. SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the search. Anyone with a computer can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.

We have life here on earth that defies our preconceived notions of what a living organism should look like. Take the sea jelly, or more commonly, the jellyfish, for example. It has no specialized digestive, respiratory, or circulatory systems. Its mouth is also its anus. It has no eyes. It has no brain (except for the Box Jellyfish, which has four separate brains) and no central nervous system, but rather a loose network of nerves, located in the epidermis, which is called a "nerve net." A jellyfish detects various stimuli, including the touch of other animals via this nerve net, which then transmits impulses both throughout the nerve net and around a circular nerve ring to other nerve cells. Jellyfish seem to sense when their species is in danger and reproduce exponentially. One species of jelly, the Turritopsis nutricula, is effectively immortal. It can revert completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual maturity as a solitary stage. It does this through the cell development process of transdifferentiation. Theoretically, this cycle can repeat indefinitely, rendering the T. nutricula biologically immortal.

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In a future post I will discuss the idea of a life form connected not by tissue, but by a cosmic distributed intelligence that incorporates components on earth.