In the first history of GCHQ ever published, intelligence expert Aldrich traces its development from the Bletchley Park wartime codebreaking operation into one of the world's leading espionage agencies. The product of ten years' intensive research, and completely uncensored, GCHQ is packed full of dramatic stories that shed new light on Britain's role in the Cold War. The book reveals for the first time the daring submarine missions to gather intelligence beneath the Soviet fleet in the Arctic Circle, and exposes the full story behind the notorious case of Geoffrey Prime, one of the most damaging moles ever recruited by the Soviets inside British intelligence. We discover how GCHQ operators in Cheltenham helped the SAS to win conflicts in far-flung locations such as Indonesia, and learn the shocking case of three undercover GCHQ workers who were killed in an infamous shootout in Turkey. Today's GCHQ wrestles with some of the most troubling issues of our time. A leading force in the state's security efforts against al Qaeda, it also confronts fundamental questions of privacy and surveillance that will mould the future of British society. Compelling and revelatory, GCHQ is the crucial missing link in Britain's intelligence history...