V.R.K.
There was a time, not so many years ago when any mention of our intelligence services was strictly forbidden and controlled under the Official Secrets Act. Among the many departments of national security that was never spoken of was G.C.H.Q. This was the Post War / Cold War replacement of Bletchley Park where the secret and the success of Code Breaking remained hidden until the publication of Wing Commander FW Winterbotham's book "Ultra" in 1974. That ability to keep the "Code Breaking Success" a secret was achieved by a level of security that was known simply as V.R.K. (Very Restricted Knowledge) and worked on a principle, " The Need To Know". In short if you did not need to know you did not need to know. To give an example of just how closely guarded the very existence of GCHQ was seventy four years ago can be experienced from an article in the Belfast Telegraph of August 1951 when the powers that be decided to construct a new radio station at Gilnahirk. Despite the best efforts and many questions of the Telegraph reporter the desire to obtain answers was like trying to get blood out of a stone.
