Richard Martin Commander Intel 2 = Interception of Communications Commissioner's Office i Septand Var Broadway London SW1H 0BG & Covert Policing VIA EMAIL: Telephone: 020 7230 2070 8 20th October 2014 Dear4 1 Re: IOCCO inquiry into the use of RIPA powers to acquire communications data relating to the confidential sources of journalist In furtherance of the IOCCO request dated 05 October 2014, please find enclosed, as agreed, a brief ‘summary of the MPS operations which involve determining if a member of a police service or other party have been in contact with a journalist or employee of a newspaper or television company related to news or documentaries in the past three years. These are accompanied by draft numbers of applications made to acquire communications data using Part |, Chapter 2 of RIPA and the number of PACE orders which have been applied for to require disclosure of journalistic material or the identity of a journalistic source. This information has been provided subject to the limitations of the timescales and the communications data workflow tools currently operating within the MPS. For a complete and accurate picture, each and every communications data application for the last three years, across the three MPS SPOC units, would need to be reviewed individually. This has not been feasible in the timescales we have been requested to work to. Additionally it perative that the information provided, particularly in connection with Operations Weeting, Elveden and Tuleta, is considered in the unique context of those operations undertaken by the MPS when the extent of telephone and computer hacking became widely known. Operation Weeting has some> potential victims of phone hacking and consequently is victim focussed. In many cases the only way to identify these victims was through their phone numbers, therefore many of the RIPA applications were aimed to achieve this end as opposed to identifying journalistic sources. These offences simply could not be efficiently and effectively investigated without obtaining telephone data. The acquisition of communications data, in particular call data, can reveal the telephone numbers of phones dialled by journalists; this in itself will not reveal confidential journalistic8 sources. For that to happen further investigative steps are necessary which Would not be authorised unless part of an investigation into serious crime. Many of these investigations are still ongoing. We therefore request the information contained within our response is not published, nor disclosed at this stage to any third parties without first having been subjected to inspection by yourselves as agreed in our communications of the last two weeks, and at the very least until greater consensus has been achieved over what is and more importantly what is not within the remit of the 1OCCO inquiry. Operation Weeting: Operation Weeting (which remains a live investigation) was initiated to conduct a full criminal investigation into the material handed to the MPS on 26 January 2011 by the News of the World, concerning allegations of mobile phone voicemail interception (phone hacking)? 2 Operation Tulet Operation Tuleta comprises four distinct investigations, ° l 10 ——= Operation Elved Operation Elveden came into existence on 20 June 2011 as a result of information supplied by News International that journalists working for the News of the World were suspected of paying police officers for information. The initial terms of reference were to identify suspects who were serving or retired corrupted officers, journalists acting as corrupters and conduits between journalists and corrupt officers. in progressing these enquiries it became apparent other categories of public officials have been paid for information and in February 2012 the terms of reference were expanded to include Public officials for the purpose of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 and/or Misconduct in a Public Office.Operation Alic Operation Alice is the investigation into the incident that occurred at the gates of Downing Street between Andrew Mitchell MP and officers from the MPS Diplomatic Protection Group, on the evening of 19 September 2012. Crimes being investigated were conspiracy and misconduct in a public office by MPS officers. The investigation was of significant public and political interest and a key line of ‘enquiry was to identify the source of the leaked police information. 19 =8 14 | hope this partial response provides sufficient information for IOCCO inspectors to understand the ‘scale of the task within the MPS and to plan their further inquiries to fulfil the Rt. Hon. Sir Paul Kennedy's request. | also hope it serves as an indication of our willingness to comply as fully as possible with our statutory obligations, subject to the limitations previously referred to. We will await nt time for the agreed visit to further your Yours sincerely o— Commander Richard Martin Commander, Intelligence and Covert Policing