Inside the secret facility that makes hi-tech equipment for British spies

Hidden behind five barbed wire rings in a park on the outskirts of Milton Keynes is no ordinary manufacturing plant: in its 85-year history, it has never opened its doors to the media.

At Her Majesty’s Government Communications Centre (HMGCC) in Hanslope Park, seemingly mundane items are manufactured.

But that’s not the whole story: its history includes codebreaker Alan Turing, sealed rooms and comparisons to top-secret gadgets found in James Bond films.

The reason for the tight security? These objects were made for British spies to help disguise their activities.

The BBC has exclusive access to the vast premises, meaning mobile phones must be handed in and security guards accompany them at all times.

It offers a glimpse into what goes on under the hood as HMGCC seeks to forge new partnerships to gain an edge in espionage, but it doesn’t tell us much more.

“We’ve made it really hard for people to connect with us, and that’s been a really good way to work throughout our history,” CEO George Williamson explains.

But he says it’s time for change, even if it feels “weird.”

The area, lined with anonymous buildings, resembles an industrial park.

Engineers, physicists, chemists, designers, programmers and other specialists work on what is loosely described as a mix of art and engineering.

In some areas, you have to wear anti-static clothing, while in other areas you see a variety of machines, including one that makes electronic circuit boards, laser cutters and 3D printers (labeled with Darth Vader, Luke and Leia in a nod to Star Wars).

But what exactly is this machine producing used for? Part of the problem is that no matter how hard I try, no one will answer, because the equipment that comes out of the machine is highly classified.

But we can take a hint from the past: HMGCC was established on the eve of World War II, when European spies and diplomats needed to communicate secretly and securely with Britain.

The result was the development of a secret radio system that could be smuggled around in a diplomatic pouch, and when German forces invaded Poland in 1939, parts of this system were used to let officials fleeing Warsaw know what was happening.

By the start of the war this had evolved into the production of small radios to be given to MI6 agents who parachuted behind enemy lines in occupied Europe to transmit information back.

During the war, Turing lived and worked at Hounslow Park and, although he is best known for breaking Nazi codes at nearby Bletchley Park, he also worked at HMGCC on developing equipment capable of voice encryption.

Existing systems, used by wartime leaders Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, weighed 50 tons. Turing’s prototype, Delilah, superimposed noises from a record turntable onto speech. Delilah was portable and ahead of its time, another clue to what’s being built there today.

“I suspect we may be able to trace it directly back in time to what was going on there 70 or 80 years ago,” Mr Turing’s nephew, Sir Dermot Turing, told the BBC.

“The need for secure communications is not going away.”

So what does this have to do with the modern world? These days, undercover agents operating in so-called “no go areas” like Russia and Iran need to communicate.

HMGCC declined to comment, but other sources say modern spies rely on a kind of covert burst transmitter that is made to look like an ordinary object and can transmit information in a fraction of a second. I suspect that’s what’s being built here, but no one wants to say.

Another object I was shown provides further clues as to what HMGCC does.

A 1930s car radio speaker with a secret transmitter hidden in the back.

Communication is part of the job, but so are hidden wiretaps and tracking devices, although officials remain tight-lipped when I ask.

“We have spent the best part of 85 years developing secure communications systems that enable people in difficult, dangerous and remote locations to communicate covertly with the UK,” Mr Williamson said.

“For some of our domestic national security agencies, we may develop technology to assist them in their surveillance and other activities and assist them in some of their investigative activities.”

One of HMGCC’s clients is MI5, which might need to secretly listen in on suspects in their homes in the UK or follow them in their cars.

This could involve disguising the eavesdropping device as an everyday object that no one would notice. How that works is something no one wants to discuss.

It’s tempting to say that all of this is a bit like James Bond’s Department Q. Insiders say that comparison isn’t accurate, likely because they don’t make things that explode or cars with rocket launchers, but it’s hard to be completely sure.

In one room with rubber flooring, two staff members test electrical equipment to prevent accidental electric shocks. In another, products made here are tested in extreme heat and cold to ensure they can still send and receive signals.

One strange place I was taken to was a Stargate, a sealed container covered in tiny grey foam spikes, and being locked in there made me feel like a modern version of a medieval torture chamber.

The room contains a turntable that moves devices around, and sensors test what patterns specific communication devices emit.

This could then tell us how likely it is that a hostile nation would find us, and perhaps how to identify devices they are using on our own territory.

HMGCC is open because it recognizes, within fairly strict limits, that new technologies that could be critical to its mission are being developed by small startups and in academia.

The technology may be relevant in areas far removed from national security, but it may have uses unknown to its developers.

Previously, collaboration was impossible due to stringent security, but now it is expected to be possible.

“The idea is to get our engineers and their great ideas in the same rooms as people from industry and academia,” Williamson said.

“It’s those magical moments when different ideas come together that create something truly special.”

But how that technology will ultimately be used is likely to remain secret, like almost everything else about the site.