Thread by @carolecadwalla

Can I point out something bizarre & troubling? @ft has scoop today. An interview with head of @gchq. A week after @BBCRadio4 has head of MI6.

There’s a common thread: data.

Specifically: national security implications of it in hands of enemy states
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on.ft.com/3IEsp9g

This is an important positioning piece. It’s result of a meeting between head of GCHQ & editor of FT, ahead of new cyber warfare strategy.

And the headline is China.

China’s accelerationist command of technology is a threat to national security. This is undoubtedly true.

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China was also one of the headline threats the head of MI6 spoke about last week.

But he also said this:

“If you allow another country to gain access to critical data about your society, over time that will erode you sovereignty.”
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And this is what the head of GCHQ has to say in @ft today:

“If other countries gathered large volumes of data - how they work, shop, socialise & travel - it would prove ‘deeply intrusive’ & could lead to an ‘erosion of sovereignty’”

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Hey guys! I’ve got an amazing lead for you @GCHQ.

Do you have a tip line?

This has already happened! Our data is already out there. We are tracked every second of every minute of every day.

And the UK govt not only knows this. It’s complicit in it.

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theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

So why is this so troubling? Where to even start. Johnson personally tried to suppress publication of ISC’s Russia Report.

When it finally appeared, it revealed absence of any investigation of possible catastrophic breaches in our national security

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theguardian.com/world/2020/jul…

Russia pioneered hybrid warfare - in Ukraine. Which it’s threatening to invade right now. This is a military strategy of using disinformation to confuse & disorient your enemy.

Russia is central to this. But also just one small part of it.

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cepa.org/the-evolution-…

Russia is still the biggest disinfo exploiter of Silicon Valley platforms.

And Johnson’s relationship to Russian oligarchs is deeply troubling.

And together, it’s created a perfect storm. The country’s doors are wide wide open to all comers now.

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washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

Our failure to investigate Silicon Valley’s role in our elections, political discourse & information space is a catastrophic national security failure.

Oligarchic corruption just one part of this. The bigger issue is social media as a threat surface.

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theguardian.com/world/2020/jul…

The head of GCHQ is trying to tell us something. As is the head of MI6. We’ve been here before. This was head of MI6 in Dec 2016, weeks after US election, sounding warning about the threat to our democracy.

Which the UK govt comprehensively ignored.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/d…

I quoted that speech & how it puzzled British intelligence watchers in 2017. And these 2 interventions by head of GCHQ & MI6 seem remarkable both for what they’re saying. And for what they’re not saying.

About Silicon Valley. And the known risks to our politics & elections.
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Final point (for now). I’ve just found the rest of interview with @khalafroula which is fascinating. The UK intelligence services are both dependent on & compromised by their r’ships with Silicon Valley.

Everything the head of @gchq is describing here has already happened.

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Fascinating too, of course, that the head of @GCHQ highlights role of European data laws in safeguarding our data. Laws which the UK government is preparing to tear up. When head of our own intelligence agency says we need more transparency not less

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opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocra…