Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP
Minister of State for Security and
Economic Crime
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
www.gov.uk/home-office

Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP
Chair, Intelligence and Security Committee
35 Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BQ
3 December 2018

Dear Dominic,

GCHQ’s planned use of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 Bulk Equipment
Interference Regime

I am writing to inform you that GCHQ’s position on the authorisation of equipment
interference (EI) operations has evolved since the Investigatory Powers Act received
Royal Assent in 2016.

During passage of the then Investigatory Powers Bill through Parliament, HMG
indicated that the majority of GCHQ’s EI operations would be authorised under
targeted or targeted thematic warrants. The reason for this was that the use of bulk
EI warrants was anticipated to be limited to overseas “discovery” based EI
operations. Under this approach, EI authorised under a bulk warrant would have
been the exception and Lord Anderson of Ipswich K.B.E. Q.C. stated in his “Report
of the Bulk Powers Review”, published on 19 August 2016, that “Bulk EI is likely to
be only sparingly used”.

EI operations are a critical capability for our security and intelligence agencies in
order to keep the country safe. Since the passage of the Bill, the communications
environment has continued to evolve, particularly in terms of the range of hardware
devices and software applications which need to be targeted. In addition, the
deployment of less traditional devices, and usage of these technologies by

 individuals of interest has advanced significantly. Following a review of current
operational and technical realities, GCHQ have revisited the previous position and
determined that it will be necessary to conduct a higher proportion of ongoing
overseas focused operational activity using the bulk EI regime than was originally
envisaged.

This interpretation is fully in line with the Act and the EI Code of Practice, as, for the
reasons above, it is not always possible to adequately foresee the extent of all
interferences with privacy to a sufficient degree to properly and fully assess
necessity and proportionality at the point of issue of a warrant. The legislation
contains the bulk warrant provisions specifically for these circumstances, and,
following careful consideration of any warrant application through the Judicial double
lock process, the additional controls and safeguards of the bulk regime will be
employed. HMG has informed the Investigatory Powers Commissioner of these
proposals, and he has proposed enhanced post facto safeguards for this activity.

Alternatively, where it is possible to ensure a greater degree of foreseeability of the
relevant intrusion at the point of issue of the warrant, a targeted thematic warrant is
likely to be more appropriate.

I can confirm you will receive a further letter on this matter from GCHQ which will
provide additional detail at a higher classification. Should you have any observations
or questions please let me know and we will work with GCHQ to address them.

I am copying this letter to the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, The Rt Hon Lord
Justice Fulford. A copy of this letter will be placed in the House Library and
published on the Government website.

Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP
Minister of State for Security and Economic Crime