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The Documentary: The Secret History of GCHQ: From Bude to Berlin

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GCHQ Satellite Listening Station at Bude

11/12/2019 GMT

From Bude to Berlin

The Secret History of GCHQ

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The Secret History of GCHQ, From Bude to Berlin

GCHQ's listening station at Bude, its hidden past and how it was forced out into the open

GCHQ's listening station at Bude, its hidden past and how it was forced out into the open.

Gordon Corera becomes the first journalist allowed to record inside GCHQ's listening station at Bude on Britain’s south-west coast. The station has spied on global communications satellites for decades, sucking in signals from space. He takes us from the Cold War, when GCHQ was quietly eavesdropping on the front lines in Berlin, to the current digital era. And Gordon finds out how, following the revelations of Edward Snowden, the agency has been forced out into the open.

(Photo: GCHQ satellite listening station at Bude in Cornwall. Credit: Getty Images)

The Documentary: The Secret History of GCHQ

Stories from the British intelligence agency’s hidden past.

Stories from the British intelligence agency’s hidden past, in some unlikely places. BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera reveals how Government Communications Headquarters – GCHQ -  has been listening in for 100 years.

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