03.01.2015 Views

l4sfdrx

l4sfdrx

l4sfdrx

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

UNMASKING GCHQ: THE ABC TRIAL 353<br />

of increasing automation, and had learned to love computers.<br />

He became Coordinator of Technical Services at GCHQ, working<br />

closely with the computer section known as X Division.<br />

Dick White, the go-ahead new Intelligence Coordinator in the<br />

Cabinet Office, was another avid computer enthusiast. In February<br />

1969 he was chatting to Joe Hooper, the Director of GCHQ, about<br />

how computers were transforming the world of intelligence.<br />

Hooper happened to mention a new American system called<br />

'COINS' (Community On-line Intelligence System) that was<br />

intended to provide a shared database across the whole US intelligence<br />

community. While was exdted by this idea, and asked<br />

him for a detailed appraisal. Hooper rather relished giving White<br />

the doleful story. Begun in 1965 as a presidential initiative by<br />

Lyndon Johnson, after four years and vast expense it was still<br />

not working. The idea was to allow all the different American<br />

intelligence agendes to access each other's computerised files,<br />

together with 'read-only' access for the Pentagon and the State<br />

Department. However, there were major difficulties with different<br />

file formats and terminology. The committee set up to address<br />

this had got nowhere, and was caught up in bitter bureaucratic<br />

wrangling. 46<br />

White was not deterred. By early 1970 he had persuaded the<br />

Joint Intelligence Committee to get busy in the area of new<br />

technology. Brian Stewart, Secretary of the JIC, created a joint<br />

team on Automatic Data Processing which also comprised MIS,<br />

SIS, the Defence Intelligence Staff and the Foreign Office. Teddy<br />

Poulden from GCHQ was given the job of chairing it.47 GCHQ<br />

and NSA had just completed a shared computer project to standardise<br />

the spelling of geographical locations in Russian. 48 What<br />

GCHQ really thirsted for was progress on machine translation<br />

that would do some of the jobs currently undertaken by linguists,<br />

but so far this had failed on grounds of high costs and<br />

complexity.49 The Defence Intelligence Staff had looked at storing<br />

more of its material on computer, but had been horrified by<br />

the sheer labour required to keep such databases current. Despite<br />

these disappointments, they all recognised that NSA's growing

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!