In 2013, GCHQ received considerable media attention when the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the agency was in the process of collecting all online and telephone data in the UK via the Tempora programme.
Godine 2013, GCHQ je dobio znatnu medijsku pažnju kada je Edvard Snouden, bivši izvršilac Agencije za nacionalnu bezbednost SAD-a, otkrio da je Agencija prikupljala sve mrežne i telefonske podatke u Ujedinjenom Kraljevstvu putem Tempora programa.