GCHQ. Richard Aldrich
href="#litres_trial_promo">Appendix 2
Appendix 3 – GCHO Organisation in 1946
Appendix 4 – GCHO Organisation in 1970
Appendix 5 – GCHO Organisation in 1998
Sigint and Comsec Locations in the UK
1 Adastral Park, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, BT Research Laboratories, 1975–
2 Beaumanor/Garats Hay, Leic., post–war Army sigint base & Special Projects Agency, 1945–94
3 Bletchley Park; this remained a sigint training site after the war until 1985
4 Boddington, Glos, (RAF) military communications unit working with GCHQ
5 Bower, Bowermadden near Wick, listening station, closed 1975
6 Brawdy, Haverfordwest, Wales, 14 Signals Regiment (electronic warfare)
7 Brora, Sutherland, listening station, closed 1984
8 Capenhurst Tower, Cheshire, intercepting telephone traffic to Ireland, 1990–98
9 Cheadle, Staffs, (RAF) listening station, closed 1996
10 Cheltenham (Oakley and Benhall); GCHQ moved to the twin sites between 1952 and 1954
11 Chicksands, Beds, NSA/USAF until 1994, then UK Defence Intelligence & Security Centre
12 Cricklade, Wilts, GCHQ experimental radio station
13 Culmhead, Somerset, GCHQ Central Training School, replacing Bletchley, 1985–94
14 Digby, Lincs, main centre for RAF ground sigint and now UK joint services sigint centre
15 Edzell, Brechin, US Navy/NSA site, 1960–96
16 HMS Flowerdown, near Winchester, listening station, closed 1977
17 Gilnahirk, Belfast, listening station, closed 1978
18 Hanslope Park, near Milton Keynes, Diplomatic Wireless Service and DTMS
19 Hawklaw, (Cupar) Fife, listening station, closed 1988
20 Hereford, 264 Signal Squadron supporting 22 SAS
21 Irton Moor, Scarborough, listening station, now GCHQ Scarborough
22 Island Hill, Comber, Northern Ireland, closed 1977
23 Ivy Farm, Knockholt Pound, Kent, listening station
24 Kirknewton, near Edinburgh, US listening station, closed 1966
25 Menwith Hill, near Harrogate, US Army listening station, taken over by NSA 1963
26 HMS Mercury, near Petersfield, naval signals centre, 1941–93
27 Morwenstow, now GCHQ Bude, focused on satellite communications, 1969–
28 Oakhanger, (RAF) control centre for Skynet since 1967
29 Royal Radar Establishment, Malvern, from 1953, later Defence Research Agency
30 Waddington, Lincs, (RAF) Nimrod R1s of 51 Squadron since 1995
31 Watton, Norfolk, (RAF) Central Signals Establishment, 192 Squadron 1945–63
32 Whaddon Manor, Bucks, outstation of Bletchley Park, closed 1946
33 Wyton, Cambridgeshire, (RAF) Comets and Nimrod R1s of 51 Squadron, 1963–95
34 London
Chester Road, Borehamwood, (GCHQ/SIS) factory making radio microphones in the 1950s
Chesterfield Street W1, London office for GCHQ in the late 1940s
Dollis Hill, North London, Post Office Research Station, 1921–75
Eastcote, Harrow; GCHQ moved here in 1946 and some comsec staff remained after 1952
Empress State Building, Earl’s Court, listening station, 1962–94
London Processing Group, St Dunstan’s Hill, City of London, moved to Cheltenham 1975
Northwood Hills, small post–war GCHQ site; Permanent Joint HQ since 1996
Palmer St W1, LCSA headquarters until 1969; also GCHQ’s London office
On 1 November 1919, Britain created the Government Code and Cypher School, or ‘GC&CS’, the nation’s first integrated code-making and code-breaking unit. The term GC&CS remained in widespread use until the end of the Second World War.
By contrast, Government Communications Headquarters, or ‘GCHQ’, is a term of uncertain origin. Originally developed as a cover name for Bletchley Park in late 1939, it competed for usage with several other designations, including ‘BP’, ‘Station X’ and indeed ‘GC&CS’. However, the Government Code and Cypher School remained the formal title of the whole organisation in wartime. During 1946, GC&CS re-designated itself the ‘London Signals Intelligence Centre’ when the staff of Bletchley Park decamped to a new site at Eastcote near Uxbridge, although GCHQ remained in widespread use as a cover name. On 1 November 1948, as Britain’s code-breakers began to investigate a further move away from London to Cheltenham, the term GCHQ was formally adopted and has remained in use ever since.
‘Code-breaker’ is also a troublesome phrase. Codes are usually considered to be words substituted for others, often chosen somewhat at random. Typically, the military operations that constituted D-Day in 1944 were code-named ‘Overlord’. By contrast, systems of communication where letters and numbers are substituted in an organised pattern, either by machine or by hand, are referred to as cyphers. Yet the term code-breaker is so frequently applied to the people who worked at Bletchley Park and at GCHQ that this book follows common usage.
The constantly changing names of the Soviet intelligence and security services are especially vexing and so, despite the inescapable anachronisms, the Soviet civilian intelligence service is referred to as ‘KGB’ until 1989, while the military intelligence service is denoted as ‘GRU’. In Britain, the Security Service is denoted here by the commonly known term ‘MI5’ and its sister organisation, the Secret Intelligence Service or MI6, is referred to as ‘SIS’. Ships’ and submarines’ names are italicised, e.g. HMS Turpin. Onshore naval bases and training establishments, e.g. HMS Anderson, are not italicised.
A-2—US