December 26,2008:  Britain has revealed that it has deployed members of GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters, their equivalent of the NSA)  to Afghanistan. The GCHQ personnel are "signals intelligence" (SIGINT) experts, and work closely with the British forces in Afghanistan to obtain information about enemy electronic communications. GCHQ also has the capability of tapping into the Internet and satellite phones. The British SIGINT experts have long worked with the American NSA on many projects, and constantly share information. The Taliban and al Qaeda are often forced to use electronic communications, because couriers are too slow and vulnerable, and when they do go on the air, there is a good chance that GCHQ or NSA will be listening in. The GCHQ personnel with the front line units in Afghanistan are also there to make sure the troops get useful information as soon as possible. Such data often does not age well, and is more valuable the sooner it is used.