The Intelligence Services Commissioner, was a regulatory official in the United Kingdom appointed under Section 59 of the
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ( c.23) (RIP or RIPA) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, regulating the powers of public bodies to carry out surveillance and investigation, and covering the interception of comm ...
.
They are tasked with reviewing actions and warrants taken by the
Secretary of State under the
Intelligence Services Act 1994
The Intelligence Services Act 1994 (c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Act, sometimes abbreviated as ISA, is introduced by the long title which states:
An Act to make provision about the Secret Intelligence Service ...
and the activities of British intelligence only in regard to the use of surveillance, covert human intelligence sources (i.e. agents) and interception of communications by
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
,
[https://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/intelligence-services-commissioner.html 13 September 2011] MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
,
[https://www.sis.gov.uk/about-us/legislation-and-accountability/oversight-by-independent-commisioners.html 13 September 2011] and
GCHQ
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
assuming such actions and activities are not being reviewed by the
Interception of Communications Commissioner.
Until January 2011, the Commissioner was
Sir Peter Gibson.
In January 2011, the
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
David Cameron appointed Sir
Mark Waller as the Intelligence Services Commissioner, who continued in his post until retirement at the end of 2016.
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110120/wmstext/110120m0001.htm#11012057000097 13 September 2011] On September 20, 2016, Prime Minister
Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...
appointed Sir
John Goldring to the office, effective January 1, 2017.
On September 1, 2017, the offices of Intelligence Services Commissioner and the Chief Surveillance, Interception of Communications were combined into the
Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office.
Investigatory Powers Commissioner establishes oversight regime
/ref>
See also
*Investigatory Powers Tribunal
In the United Kingdom, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) is a judicial body, independent of the British government, which hears complaints about surveillance by public bodies—in fact, "the only Tribunal to whom complaints about the Intel ...
References
{{Reflist
Government of the United Kingdom
Intelligence Services Commissioners