GCHQ director Robert Hannigan is stepping down after only two years as chief of the cyber spy agency for “personal reasons,” the intelligence service has announced.
Hannigan took over GCHQ in 2014, just a year after National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed the vast extent of surveillance carried out by US and British intelligence services.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Hannigan said a 20-year career in public service roles had “demanded a great deal of my ever patient and understanding family.”
“Now is the time for a change in direction,” he added.
The spymaster said he was proud of the work he had done at the agency and “how many lives have been saved in this country and overseas by the work of GCHQ.”
More to follow.
Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.