The UK government has named Anne Keast-Butler as the first female director of GCHQ, the country’s cyber intelligence agency.
GCHQ—or Government Communications Headquarters—gathers communications from around the world to identify and disrupt threats to Britain.
It has a close relationship with the U.S. National Security Agency as well as with counterparts in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in a consortium called “Five Eyes.”
Keast-Butler, currently deputy director-general of the UK’s domestic security agency MI5, will take up the role in May when the current GCHQ Director Sir Jeremy Fleming steps down, making her the agency’s 17th leader since its inception in the early 20th century after the outbreak of World War One.
Announcing the appointment on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: “Anne Keast-Butler has an impressive track record at the heart of the UK’s national security network, helping to counter threats posed by terrorists, cyber-criminals, and malign foreign powers.
‘Can’t Wait to Get Started’
Keast-Butler has spent 30 years working in national security. Before holding senior security service roles at MI5, she spent two years on secondment to GCHQ as head of counter-terrorism and serious organised crime, and also worked in Whitehall over the last decade, during which time she helped launch the National Cyber Security Programme.She said she is “delighted” to be appointed GCHQ director, adding that the agency’s mission is “as inspiring today as it was when it was founded.”
“I was privileged to work in GCHQ a few years ago, so I know I am again joining a world-class team of people from diverse backgrounds with a broad range of skills, who share a singular focus on making our country safer, more secure, and more prosperous,” she said.
“I am passionate about continuing to ensure that GCHQ is an organisation where everyone can perform to their very best.
“I am so grateful for the vision and dedication Sir Jeremy Fleming has shown during his tenure, and the ways in which GCHQ has transformed under his leadership.
‘Brilliant Choice’
Commenting on the appointment of his successor, Fleming said: “Anne’s appointment is fantastic news for the organisation. I have worked with Anne for decades and think she is a brilliant choice with deep experience of intelligence and security in today’s technology-driven world.”
Fleming announced his decision to step down in January.
During his six-year tenure, he has faced challenges such as the Salisbury nerve agent attack and the potential involvement of Huawei in the UK’s 5G network.
In recent times, the intelligence chief has spoken out on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “flawed” decision-making during the invasion of Ukraine and warned of the “dangerous” talk of nuclear weapon use during the conflict.
Despite the potential immediate threat posed by Russia, Fleming previously told the BBC that China is the “real long-term threat” to UK national security—saying the country is “deploying its ideologies in ways that we think are against our national interests.”
‘Responsible Cyber Power’
GCHQ provided a rare statement on its offensive cyber work earlier this month, revealing that its hackers had launched operations against militants, state-backed disinformation campaigns, and attempts to interfere in elections.The attacks were carried out over the last three years by the secretive National Cyber Force (NCF), a hacking unit operational since 2020 made up of spies and defence officials from Britain’s armed forces and GCHQ.
“In an increasingly volatile and interconnected world, to be a truly responsible cyber power, nations must be able to contest and compete with adversaries in cyberspace,” Fleming said in a statement released on April 4.
The statement was published alongside a 28-page paper designed “to illustrate aspects of how the UK is being a responsible cyber power.” It did not elaborate on the specifics of those operations.
Since it began operating, the NCF has used its offensive cyber capabilities to protect overseas military deployments and “disrupt terrorist groups,” the statement said, without elaborating.
British government hackers have also countered state disinformation campaigns and worked to “reduce the threat of external interference in democratic elections,” the statement added.
The paper accompanying the statement did not say which disinformation-spreading states British hackers had worked to counter. It noted, however, that “countries such as Russia and Iran routinely carry out cyber operations of different kinds in order to spread disinformation.”
