Accountability
The Prime Minister has overall responsibility within Government for intelligence and security matters. Day-to-day ministerial responsibility for GCHQ lies with the Foreign Secretary.
The three Intelligence and Security Agencies - GCHQ, MI5 and SIS - are responsible for the majority of the UK's operational intelligence and security work. Other important work is also carried out by Defence Intelligence and the Joint Terrorism and Analysis Centre (JTAC)
The coordination and prioritisation of our work is the responsibility of central government. The National Security Council (NSC) provides strategic management of intelligence policy and the government's international Security Agenda. The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) assesses raw intelligence gathered by the agencies and presents it to ministers to enable effective policy-making.
Intelligence requirements and priorities
The JIC carries out an annual review of government departments' requirements and priorities for secret intelligence concerning national security, economic well-being and the prevention of serious crime. Ministers approve these requirements and priorities, which are arranged in three orders of importance. Each level reflects the scale, directness and immediacy of the risk or benefit to UK interests. GCHQ responds to these requirements.