After obtaining information from the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), which is the center for their government’s Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) activities, and the NSA and U.S. counterparts in Congress, the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has issued this statement of findings as to whether GCHQ violated UK law in accessing the content of UK citizens’ communications from the U.S.’s Prism program. It’s pretty much a clean bill of health absolving the GCHQ of any wrongdoing.
It sounds like a pretty lopsided “investigation.” I mean, it’s not like government spokespeople would ever, you know, lie to investigators or oversight bodies. That said, it sounds like the ISC got more cooperation from GCHQ in terms of determining how information was used than our Congress has gotten from the NSA.
Did the ISC email Edward Snowden to ask him what he knows about this? Would their findings have been different if they had? Or is it the case that the GCHQ’s conduct may be legal but still in need of some reining in or more oversight?