Whitehall wiring: The Communications-Electronics Security Group and the struggle for secure speech

Abstract

Britain's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) enjoys two main roles, signals intelligence and communications security. We know a great deal about signals intelligence but far less about the defensive security side of its activities. This article traces the development and growth of Britain’s communications security establishment as an unknown fourth British secret service during the 1950s and 1960s. This body was the antecedent of the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG), the UK's current National Technical Authority. This article focuses on one of the key communications security challenges faced by Whitehall over the last half century, the struggle to achieve secure speech. The lessons to be drawn are that ambitious “big bang” technical projects with requirements specified years ahead are a recipe for failure. Incremental enhancements that draw on commercial solutions are more sustainable and permit adaptation.