A UK government body with a history of secret engineering
work for national security is seeking to work with companies and
universities more openly than ever before on technology projects
to help keep the country safe.
His Majesty’s Government Communications Centre (HMGCC),
set up in 1938, is a former workplace of computing pioneer Alan
Turing who is known for some of the computing innovations which
helped shorten the Second World War.
Its new initiative, called HMGCC Co-Creation, comes as
rapid technological advances pose increasing challenges and
opportunities to national security.
A government body which creates secret technologies to support
national security is today launching a new drive to work more
openly with technology firms and academics.
The initiative by His Majesty’s Government Communications Centre
(HMGCC), in partnership with the Defence Science and Technology
Laboratory (Dstl) comes as new technologies pose an ever-greater
challenge to the people and agencies keeping the UK safe. It will
allow HMGCC to work more closely than ever before with the
companies and institutions at the forefront of technological
innovation, and help the UK solve some of the most difficult
problems facing all those working in service of the UK’s national
security.
Partnerships with HMGCC, since it was established in 1938, have
so far seen breakthroughs in keeping batteries charged in
extremely cold environments, and in building secure telecoms
solutions to help UK government organisations keep their people
safe in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.
HMGCC, based at Hanslope Park near Milton Keynes, has been a
centre of national security engineering excellence since its
foundation. Computing pioneer Alan Turing used to work on HMGCC’s
current site. Turing, whose work to break the Enigma cipher has
been credited with shortening the Second World War by as much as
two years, developed a world first in speech encryption –
named Delilah – while at HMGCC.
HMGCC Chief Executive Officer George Williamson said:
We have hundreds of brilliant engineers and technicians here at
HMGCC who, over the years, have come up with countless bespoke
solutions to enable those striving to keep the country safe in
our national security community.
That amazing work continues and now we also want to ensure we are
reaching out to work more closely with external industry and
academia, creating a broader hub of engineering excellence.
Going forward, we are really excited about the opportunities that
these new ways of working will offer us, helping us to build on
our technical capabilities at a time when the pace of
technological advancement is extraordinary.
Examples of what HMGCC works on today could include helping
develop tools so agencies operating overseas in often hostile,
dangerous areas can communicate secretly, or by creating
technologies to support the investigative techniques of agencies,
such as surveillance. In these situations, the devices we create
could be involved to help in intelligence gathering around
suspected terrorists, or in cases of groups involved with serious
crime. It is always about using technology to help keep the
country safe.
Author Sir Dermot Turing, nephew of Alan Turing, said:
I am delighted at this initiative. It was at Hanslope Park that
Alan Turing did some of his most inventive and secret work during
World War Two, creating a machine to thwart enemy eavesdroppers
trying to listen in on Winston Churchill’s secret phone-calls.
The new HMGCC partnership continues in the same tradition of
bringing in external talent for the same purpose – keeping us
safe.
Dstl’s Chief Executive Dr Paul Hollinshead said:
HMGCC Co-Creation is an incredibly important partnership and
gives both HMGCC and Dstl a much wider reach to find and work
hand-in-hand with the best minds in the industrial and academic
community than was possible before to help tackle national
security challenges.
