Head of British spy agency GCHQ relieved from job

The head of British spy agency, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has been relieved from his job.

A Foreign Office spokesman said on Tuesday that Iain Lobban, 53, will step down at the end of the year after serving six years in one of the most sensitive jobs in Whitehall.

“Today is simply about starting the process of ensuring we have a suitable successor in place before he moves on as planned at the end of the year,” the spokesman said.

London calls the departure a long planned move and has rejected speculations that it is linked to recent controversy relating to the leak of classified documents by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, involving the GCHQ and its US counterpart the National Security Agency (NSA).

In November, Lobban along with the heads of MI5 and MI6, made a rare public appearance before a parliamentary committee.

This came after Snowden disclosed that British and US spy agencies had been intruding into the private communications of millions of ordinary citizens.

Why is it necessary to “collect information on the majority of the public in order to protect us from a minority of evildoers?” the MPs asked him.

Iain, who worked as GCHQ director for six years, first joined the agency in 1983.