More damning than the headline here is that GCHQ apparently explicitly stated that a major selling point for the partnership is the UK's lax legal regime, which allows them to be "Less constrained by NSA's concerns about compliance."
I guess, funding GCHQ makes that worse, as well.
It's interesting to see the USG contradictions and hypocrisy coming to light in this fashion, especially since their lies are increasingly egregious and continuous.
There is an image[1] of their operations that is especially interesting, and one can interpret it in multiple ways. For example the colors likely represent intelligence reciprocity, but it could also be construed to identify allies and enemies. Since America is yellow then it could represent weak intelligence gathering effectiveness, and it stands to reason that allies likely spy on Americans for us. I wonder how much legal liability that opens up for them? Perhaps they're leery of spying on Americans.
[1] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Boundless...
A foreign agency is secretly funnelling money into an institution that's supposed to be looking after my (as a UK citizen) interests.
I think it's well past time this incestuous charade was exposed.
It's been publicly available since June 2010, which is when the full contents of the original document were released to the UK National Archives in Kew, and simultaneously declassified by NSA [4].
It is generally assumed that the arrangement is still active, and is being updated on an ongoing basis by the participating agencies.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_BRUSA_Agreement
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement