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The United Kingdom’s three primary intelligence chiefs are scheduled to testify in front of parliamentary leaders Thursday in what will be the first time they speak publicly on the revelations disclosed by Edward Snowden earlier this year, RT reported.

The director of Britain’s Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ), head of the domestic security service MI5, and the head of the foreign intelligence service MI6 will each break their silence on national television.

It will come on the same day that lawyers for David Miranda, longtime partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, will argue in front of the British High Court that his nine-hour detention at London’s Heathrow Airport this summer violated Miranda’s rights.

Parliament’s questioning of the intelligence heads is expected to be an evidence-gathering session as a result of the public outcry against the GCHQ and US National Security Agency. UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his allies in the Conservative party, while being embarrassed by the leaks, have defended the intelligence programs as a necessary aspect of national security.

“(The intelligence chiefs) have traditionally operated behind a veil,” a government spokesman told Reuters. “But they are more publicly available than they have been in many years. This is a step forward in terms of transparency.”

Sources said the questions would focus on if the disclosures violated individual privacy, not on how they affected the UK’s ability to gather intelligence or on operational matters.

The GCHQ is the most influential of the three agencies, with more than 6,000 staff members that lead Britain’s cyber-wars.