Are GCHQ workers badly dressed?
A leading journalist has said workers at Gloucestershire’s GCHQ site are viewed as “geeks” by other security agencies.
BBC correspondent Gordon Carrera was writing in The Sunday Times ahead of a radio documentary on the listening post, to be broadcast tomorrow.
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GCHQ
He wrote: “GCHQ has long worked closely with MI6, and relationships with MI5 have become closer recently. Both agencies joke about GCHQ’s alleged lack of dress sense.”
Mr Carrera then quotes a “suave” MI6 officer as telling a GCHQ worker on a bugging mission: “The first thing we need to do is take you to a proper tailor.”
GCHQ director Iain Lobban admits: “We can occasionally come over as nerdy or geeky.”
Another worker, Joanna, said: “There are a couple of socks-and-sandal-wearing mathematicians but to do this job you do have to be reasonably normal and outgoing. It is not just you sitting alone with a computer. You do have to talk to lots of people.”
Mr Carrera was allowed unprecedented access to the site for his documentary GCHQ: Cracking the Code, which will be broadcast on Radio 4 tomorrow.
Mr Carrera writes: “GCHQ operates in a hermetically-sealed bubble of security. But the building – known as the doughnut – is open and airy.
“Casually dressed people stroll down the main thoroughfare, ‘the street’, chat in coffee bars or work in open-plan offices. Signs for ‘serious crime’ and ‘Asia-Pacific team’ hint at the breadth of their work.
“Intruders are unusual in this closed world. As I am escorted around, a voice comes across the PA system: ‘Blinds facing ‘the street’ in blocks A and B should be closed immediately’. A glance through a window might reveal something secret.
“About a third of GCHQ’s effort is now devoted to counter-terrorism.”
GCHQ: Cracking the Code is on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow night at 8pm
6 Comments
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by Richard, Cheltenham
Monday, March 29 2010, 5:17PM
“40 Years ago I worked for a bank that provided a weekly banking service to GCHQ staff on their premises (no security check needed). 70% seemed normal, 20% seemed strange and 10% seemed......odd. 1 or two seemed very odd indeed.
Maybe they just reflect society in general?”
by Penfold, Duffnut
Monday, March 29 2010, 5:04PM
“I worked there for some years and it was ace. So is the pension. I can't tell you my real name or I'd have to kill you.”
by Car Dealer, Cheltenham
Monday, March 29 2010, 4:34PM
“I work in sales at Bristol Street Motors. You can recognise a GCHQ person coming in. We normally have bets and say "look, here comes a 221491". We are usually right!! (221491 is GCHQ switchboard number)”
by Matt H, Cheltenham
Monday, March 29 2010, 2:16PM
“They are there to do a job - i.e. protecting national security. What they wear to work each day is irrelevant - it's the work they do once they're there that is the crucial issue.
Without them, what state would our national security be in...??? I could point readers to this morning's events on the Moscow underground.....
OK, GCHQ didn't prevent the 7/7 London bombings (but, nobody did), but how many other plans HAVE they been a part in preventing...??? We'll probably never know.”
by James, Cheltenham
Monday, March 29 2010, 1:15PM
“I don't work there, but have many friends there. They're all very normal, and don't seem to be 'affected in the mind', like you say. To be honest, I don't think it would be a massive problem, it's just about being careful, you can talk all you like once you're inside I guess.
And anyway, if everyone working there was smartly dressed, like this 'suave' MI6 officer, wouldn't there be complaints that GCHQ were paid too much? As it happens the salaries there are poor compared to the average for such roles elsewhere, so I'm not surprised people are given a bit of leeway to be more comfortable.
Jees, give em a break.”