GCHQ Director General Robert Hannigan's Warning and the UK-US Cyber Alliance - Behind the Scenes 2014-2016

GCHQ Director General Robert Hannigan's Warning and the UK-US Cyber Alliance - Behind the Scenes 2014-2016
In 2014, British bureaucrat Robert Hannigan was appointed director of the intelligence agency GCHQ. At the time, Russia was ramping up disruption efforts in the online space following its annexation of Crimea, and the threat of cyber warfare was becoming a reality. Early in his tenure, Hannigan criticized GAFA companies for being terrorist communication networks. At the same time, he was highly alarmed by the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin's manipulation of information and sent an immediate warning to the NSA when GCHQ intercepted the hacking and metadata extraction from the DNC (US Democratic National Committee). Secret communications cooperation between the U.K. and the U.S. existed, as did mass surveillance through the landing points of undersea cables. It becomes clear that the United Kingdom, which once connected the Atlantic Ocean, continued to stand at the center of information warfare in the 21st century.