British spy chiefs deny listening to majority of phone calls, emails
A view of the MI6 building at Vauxhall Cross is seen from the north bank of the River Thames in London.
British spy chiefs faced a grilling in front of lawmakers Thursday, in the wake of revelations about the UK's spying based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Iain Lobban, the head of Britain's counterpart to the National Security Agency, the GCHQ, denied that the agency was monitoring a majority of domestic email and telephone conversations.
"We do not spend our time listening to the telephone calls or reading the e-mails of the majority, the vast majority that would not be proportionate," Lobban said. "It would not be legal. We do not do it."
MI6 chief John Sawers told lawmakers, "The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging. They put our operations at risk. It's clear our adversaries are rubbing their hands with glee, Al Qaeda is lapping it up… and Western security has suffered as a consequence."
Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, was also at the grilling by members of parliament and peers. Parker said that 34 terror plots had been disrupted since the 2005 attacks in London in July.
Parker defended the spy agencies work, saying, "The suggestion that what we do is somehow compromising freedom and democracy – of course we believe the opposite to be the case."
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The questioning by parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee cast an unprecedented light on the British spymasters, who have until now given evidence in private because of the sensitive nature of their work.
The head of GCHQ faced particularly awkward questions because Snowden's leaks have suggested close collaboration between the British listening post and its US counterpart, the NSA, to harvest vast quantities of data from ordinary citizens' communications.
Ahead of the hearing, the committee said the three spy chiefs would be questioned over terrorist threats to Britain, cyber security and espionage.
But it warned: "Since this is a public session, it will not cover details of intelligence capabilities or techniques, ongoing operations or sub judice matters."
Germany this week demanded answers from Britain's ambassador over a media report that London has been operating a secret listening post from its Berlin embassy.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
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