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For an agency dedicated to secrecy and surveillance, it is a disgraceful mistake. An inadvertent disclosure in a university document has revealed that MI5 is in part behind what was supposed to be a covert drone and bug research project.
Apparently, the Imperial College investigation was to create a quadcopter system to load remote agricultural sensors, but MI5’s involvement came about because someone involved stated that it was the second secret funder of the program.
The paperwork produced by Imperial initially cited the Government’s seemingly obscure Communications Planning Directorate (GCPD) as endorsement, a nickname used in Whitehall as a codename for MI5.
Alerted to the slip by sister agency MI6, efforts were made to ask Imperial to discreetly remove the reference, but not before it had come to the attention of the Guardian. Since then, the link with MI5 was subsequently confirmed.
Intelligence sources say that while it can be difficult to locate a bug, requiring operatives to perform the installation in disguise, a more serious practical issue is making sure they stay charged for extended periods.
“It is not impossible to take someone to a key location to put a listening device, but what is more difficult is to keep sending people back to charge it, which you may want to keep in place for months or years.” the source said. additional.
High-tech has long been a part of a spy agency’s job, though the reality isn’t as glamorous as some of the equipment provided by Q, the recurring James Bond character, lately played by a bespectacled Ben Whishaw.
MI6 once used a fake stone to hide electronic equipment in Moscow. It was discovered in 2006 by Russia’s FSB, which happily released images of what it said was a British spy picking up the hidden monitoring device on the side of a road. Several years later, the UK admitted that they had caught it spying.
Flying a small drone to recharge and extract bug data would be difficult to do abroad, but in the UK, where MI5 operates, sources say the theory is that it could be relatively easy to pilot a craft under cover of darkness. .
The researcher’s work was published last September in a peer-reviewed open access article, IEEE Access. He begins by noting: “Remote monitoring in challenging conditions continues to present problems to potential professionals.”
One solution, the paper suggests, is to take advantage of “recent advancements integrating low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone platforms with wireless sensors in situ.” That, the authors add, “can pave the way to offer durable monitoring systems in remote and extreme environments.”
The IEEE document images show a modified quadcopter, over 50cm wide, that was tested for its ability to land on the target in windy outdoor environments. Charging the monitoring devices was only required every 30 days in a test application, the researchers said.
Sam Armstrong, communications director for the Henry Jackson Society think tank, commented: “The security applications of this technology are not in doubt; This form of system is actively used in some of the most sensitive intelligence missions undertaken by the British state. “
The think tank also expressed concern that one of the investigative team members had left the UK and was now working for Chinese engineering giant Huawei in Shenzen, near Hong Kong in mainland China. Armstrong accused MI5 of misjudging its investigation procedures for the project and displaying “a broader naivety” about China.
However, MI5 is not understood to have security concerns, while Imperial experts said there was no “technology leak” because the results of its investigation are published, even if the full scope of its potential applications is not detailed. .
What is unclear is whether MI5 has carried forward development work by adding tailored capabilities internally. Imperial College said that “this project with agricultural applications is published and open to all” and that “none of our research is classified.”
Britain’s spy agencies often use code names in public documents to conceal their work involvement. MI6 uses the cover name Government Communications Bureau, once revealed on an energy efficiency certificate for its distinctive headquarters in Vauxhall, south London. That too had been posted by mistake.
