Write to your MP
Please follow these simple steps to write to your MP to support our CALL FOR A FULL PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO THE OPERATION OF NATIONAL SECURITY SERVICES IN THE UK.
- Copy the text below
- Click on the link www.writetothem.com
- Select “Your Member of Parliament”
- Paste the letter
- Amend (if you wish), enter your details and send
- Check your inbox as you will have to verify the message
Here’s our sample letter for you to copy…
There is an urgent need for a full parliamentary inquiry into the operation of national security services in the UK.
Oversight of UK security services is wholly inadequate. Currently, scrutiny of the work of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ is the exclusive preserve of parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). The all-party Commons home affairs committee has concluded regulation of Britain’s intelligence agencies is so weak and ineffective that it undermines their credibility and that of parliament.
Revelations by Edward Snowden have shown GCHQ and the US National Security Agency (NSA) to be working hand in hand to cooperate in mass surveillance, spying on ordinary citizens and institutions, in which NSA/NRO Menwith Hill is implicated USAF Croughton has been named as a base spying on leaders of EU countries. Recent news of a $317 million upgrade of Croughton indicates expansion of activities at the base, and will make it the largest intel hub outside mainland United States.
These bases in the UK are nominally RAF but occupied and controlled by the US military, a legacy of WWII. The UK government has stated that operations at US bases on British soil have always been and continue to be, carried out with its knowledge and consent.
It’s essential that the ISC is scrapped in favour of a meaningful and credible independent committee which has oversight of the activities of UK security agencies, and can ensure the US visiting forces do not act in ways that are incompatible with British interests which they clearly do at present.
Our security services must focus on real threats to our safety. Their primary role should be to protect citizens from harm from internal and external criminal activity, particularly violent acts. There should be a mechanism to ensure reasonable cause to suspect criminal behaviour before they can gather information and this should not be to achieve political, economic and cultural advantage, control and domination, possibly working against interests of people in UK.
Scrutiny must ensure security services act in a way that is compatible with democracy, and according to the spirit of the law when working together with non-UK agencies. It needs to keep pace with 21st century technology. The role of the private sector should be included since British Telecom has been implicated in the collection and storage of data made available, which a judgment by the European Court of Justice suggests is illegal.
I support the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases in their tireless efforts to bring democratic control to US visiting forces.
