The UK is spying on internet and telephone communications for the United States and other Western intelligence agencies through a base in the Middle East.
The spies tap into and extract data from underwater fibre optic cables in Middle East.
Emails, telephone calls and web traffic are monitored and then processed and passed on to GCHQ in Cheltenham.
The intelligence is US National Security Agency (NSA).
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the agency which supplies Her Majesty’s Government with foreign intelligence. It operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) alongside the internalSecurity Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI).
It is frequently referred to by the name MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), a name used as a flag of convenience during the Second World War when it was known by many names. The existence of MI6 was not officially acknowledged until 1994.
In late 2010, the head of SIS delivered what he said was the first public address by a serving chief of the agency in its 101-year history. The remarks of Sir John Sawers primarily focused on the relationship between the need for secrecy and the goal of maintaining security within Britain. His remarks acknowledged the tensions caused by secrecy in an era of leaks and pressure for ever-greater disclosure.
Its headquarters, since 1995, are at Vauxhall Cross on the South Bank of the Thames.
