Director GCHQ speaks at the opening of the Science Museum exhibition - Top Secret: from Ciphers to Cyber Security

The Science Museum today opened a new exhibition about GCHQ, called Top Secret: from Ciphers to Cyber Security.

Director GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, gave a speech at the opening ceremony, as transcribed below.

I am delighted to be here on the launch of this fantastic exhibition. It is the culmination of a unique collaboration between GCHQ and the Science Museum. I really need to thank Sir Ian and the whole team here as well as the sponsors for making it free for everyone to attend.

This year is GCHQ’s centenary. This exhibition tells the story of ciphers and codebreaking, and GCHQ’s central role, over the last 100 years. It sheds new light on our mission and frames it in the context of the relentless technological change that is perhaps the defining feature of our age.

But what pleases me most is that this exhibition goes deeper than that. It explores the evolving role of intelligence and security in a constantly changing society. And it does that by featuring never-before-seen objects and new stories from our secret archives.

I welcome this transparency. Because the world has changed.
It is no longer enough for us to serve entirely in secret, we must justify the trust of the people we seek to protect.

And if we are to prosper as a democratic nation in the digital age openness is our strength. Openness that fosters the innovation and enterprise that allows us to harness the benefits of the technological revolution. And openness that will give everyone access to the tools and knowledge to keep themselves and their families secure in the digital world.

That is why we are breaking new ground in explaining our organisation. From our social media presence to the creation of the National Cyber Security Centre, we are aiming to put tailored cyber security advice in the hands of every citizen. And it’s why we have opened our doors to the Science Museum so they can use their expert and critical eye to tell our story in a different way.

Letting others into our world, seeing what sparks their imagination, has been a fascinating process. There are some familiar stories here – it would not be possible to tell the history of codebreaking without reference to Enigma and the dazzling minds who helped unlock its secrets in the Second World War. But the Science Museum has also picked out and curated new artefacts and new stories too – ones that bring us forward into the modern age and shows that we’ve adapted to the ever shifting threats from terrorism, serious crime and malign state activity.

I want to draw your attention to just one of these artefacts. The 5-UCO (pronounced 5-YOU-KO) machine was developed in 1943 to keep the intelligence derived from decrypts of the Enigma machines at Bletchley Park completely secret when being sent on to military commanders in the field. And this is on display for the first time. It demonstrates how intelligence is nothing unless it can be used and used securely. It was one of the first electronic and fully unbreakable cipher machines and was considered so secret that it was thought to have been destroyed long ago to conceal the very fact of its existence. It turns out we kept one and it’s here for everyone to see today.

The exhibition is full of many other stories like that. And while it uses these to look back at the last 100 years, it’s my strong hope that it will make us think about what the next 100 will bring.

Technology will surely become even more central to our economic prosperity and to the development of our society. The digital era is already bringing new and unprecedented challenges as we work to ensure that everyone can live and do business safely online.

This is not an easy task. But tackling the seemingly impossible has always defined GCHQ and I’m confident we will succeed again.

We know we can’t do that alone. It needs a whole-of-nation approach. And for that to work we need to inspire the next generation of brilliant minds, so that our children can see themselves working in this world, understand what they can bring to it, and make them able to shape our digital future.

Of course, I’m pleased with this opportunity to celebrate GCHQ’s first 100 years and the role we’ve played in keeping the country safe. But more than that I want to make sure we’re ready for the next Century.

That is why this collaboration with the Science Museum is so important. If it results in a greater interest in STEM and cyber, a broader understanding of the difficult work we do, or causes a few young people or those with a broader range of experience to want to find out more, then it will have been a success.

I’m sure it will be and for that I want to thank Sir Ian and his team, as well as my team for all they’ve done to make the brilliant exhibition you are about to see.

Thank you.