Part 5: Equipment interference Section 102: Power to issue warrants to intelligence services: the Secretary of State
This section sets out the circumstances in which the Secretary of State has the power to issue a warrant under Part 5 of the Bill, establishing the process and requirements for equipment interference warrants that are applied for, by or on behalf of and issued to a director of one of the intelligence services – i.e. MI5, SIS, and GCHQ.
	Subsection (1)(a) sets out that equipment interference warrants issued to the intelligence services must be necessary for one of three statutory purposes, detailed in subsection (5). This means a warrant can only be issued if it is in the interests of national security, for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime, or in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom (so far as those interests are also relevant to the interests of national security).
	Subsection (1) also requires that a warrant may only be issued if the Secretary of State believes that the activity set out in the warrant is proportionate to the intended outcome, if the Secretary of State considers that appropriate safeguards are in place and, unless considered urgent, the decision to issue the warrant has been approved by a Judicial Commissioner.
	Subsections (2) and (4) makes clear that the Secretary of State may not issue a warrant under this section if it relates to serious crime activity in Scotland or the subject of the warrant is in, or believed to be in, Scotland. In such circumstances the warrant will be issued by the Scottish Ministers (see section 103).
	Subsection (7) makes it clear that it is not sufficient to establish that a warrant is necessary on the grounds set out in subsection (5) only on the basis that the information that would be obtained relates to trade union activity in the British Islands.