INSIDE GCHQ: Welcome to Cheltenham's cottage industry

Re: "you might wonder if it inspired Steve Jobs’ plans for a new circular Apple building"

Maybe it's simply inspired by an arsehole. Older still. That would suit Apple.

Re: "you might wonder if it inspired Steve Jobs’ plans for a new circular Apple building"

I noticed the same thing.

Uncanny, innit?

Barrow & Boddington

Funny little area, so hidden, quiet little roads between Staverton and the Coombe Hill road. I have walked and cycled around there. Probably the quietest roads in that area, as no logical reason to go there except to go to the villages.

I have stories but probably not that interesting.

9SU(Signals Unit) Boddington, had nothing to do with GCHQ it was more to do with RAF Innsworth (now Imjen Barracks) which was also just down the road in Churchdown. Boddington was the major comms exchange linking various Commcens (Communications Centres) at every camp in the UK and overseas. It was used for the formal messenging systems that were in use by the Armed Forces before email was used for everything.

(Former TCO (Telecommunications Operator) RAF, worked at both Innsworth and Boddington)

First rule of fight club is....

If you are interested in applying don't tell anyone, even your family, it's just easier. Just say it's for an Aerospace company near Gloucester ;-).

When they "interview" you tell them everything they ask for. Everyone has vices, they just want to know so that you cannot be pressurised. If they think you are lying or find out you did (even a tiny white lie) you will be out as you cannot be trusted. Simple as.

The pay isn't great but the job security and pension is better than the real world.

Finally, chances are it's going to be a lot more Basildon Bond than James Bond. Think of it like a "real job" with more paperwork and more inaction. Remember, no one ever got fired for saying "No"; it is the Civil Service after all.

Re: "How do organisations handle camera phones?"

The most mono-gluteal approach I've seen was $FRENCH_COMPANY, which required camera-phones to be put in a translucent bag, which had a tamper-evident seal. You could still use the phone, but any pictures would be a blurry mess.

When we left the site, no one checked the seals.

Re: Smartphones

You leave them at the door - actually you leave any electronics (including quartz watches) at the door - at least that's been the case at every sensitive facility I've ever been to. And there are generally one or more nice gentlemen with machine guns to enforce the rule....

Re: How some deal with devices

>No clue why but stuff like this always interests me.

GCHQ et al have been in the security business a long time - they have seen so many tricks and tried so many tactics that it's interesting to see what has survived as a simple, understandable ad effective system to ensure as secure an environment as reasonably possible.

Having people grow up in a family/ dynasty that takes secrecy as the normal way of doing things is part of the picture, but it's all the physical, technical, psychological and behavioural layers that reinforce each other.

I guess it's the engineers view of a well-designed system that gets the attention - it is that for me anyway.

ttfn

Re: Nostalgia

Cleeve

The hill, I remember doing a 3 figure speed on it going up on a bike, another time at the top with a friend testing his home made car phone. And coasting a car from the top all the way to the traffic lights at Bishops Cleeve.

Re: "anyone can get their balls out and whack them off among the sheep"

No that is the Forest of Dean

Re: Test the secret ballot

I don't know what happens currently, but friends in the generation above me who were involved in invigilating ballot counting(*) during the 60s and 70s have told me that at the end of the count, when all was done and dusted, the small pile of ballot papers for the communist candidate used to be handed over to a nice gentleman from Special Branch for "safe disposal". There have also been cases when people just under eighteen voted and were subsequently prosecuted using their ballot papers as evidence. The number that gets logged in the polling station as you're handed the paper ties you directly to your vote. The ballot is only secret against other people, not the state.

(*) Ballot counters are often party political activists, and some are prone to adding votes for other parties to their candidate's pile if not watched, hence any sensible party supplies invigilators as well as counters.

Re: Test the secret ballot

My memories of Cheltenham are almost fifty years old, and largely consist of beautiful buildings, gentile tea rooms, and an excellent bookshop. Against this background, I can't imagine the place having a communist candidate!

Re: How about the Golden Valley By Pass?

I wrote a car off on that roundabout in the 90's. Does that count? :)

Re: Doughnut nav

The Russian equivalent of the building in question allegedly has a large no-flight zone above it. Imagine what could happen if an overflight scared these people....

When the Russian employees of said building travel into foreign lands, they are allegedly always escorted by security forces who know how to protect people against "interference". You don't want the Goose Which Lays Golden Eggs to lay these eggs into your neighbour's nest, ya know.