New British Surveillance Chief Is An Intel Outsider

In Break With Tradition, New British Surveillance Chief Is An Intel Outsider -- Shane Harris, Foreign Policy

The United Kingdom's global surveillance agency is getting a new leader. But in a move widely seen as an attempt to bring the organization to heel following months of embarrassing leaks about its operations, the new director is a political operative who is more James Carville than James Bond.

Robert Hannigan, a career diplomat and former adviser to two prime ministers, was appointed director of the Government Communications Headquarters, the equivalent of the National Security Agency, earlier this week. Historically, all but two GCHQ directors have either climbed up the career ladder of the agency or had significant experience in signals intelligence. The most recent director, Iain Lobban, joined the agency in 1983. Hannigan, by contrast, is a political operative who has served as a government spokesman and was closely involved in the Northern Ireland peace process and other high-profile diplomatic negotiations.

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My Comment: This is so typically British (and everyone else when you think about it) .... there is a hope that by changing the messenger it will end up changing the perception of the organization and it's message. Unfortunately .... that is rarely the case.