" Within Europe, all email, telephone
and fax communications are routinely intercepted by the United States National Security
Agency, transferring all target information from the European mainland ... to [The
headquarter of NSA] ... a global surveillance system that stretches around the world to
form a targeting system on all of the key Intelsat satellites used to convey most of the
world's satellite phone calls, internet, email, faxes and telexes. ...unlike many of the
electronic spy systems developed during the cold war, ECHELON is designed for primarily
non-military targets: governments, organisations and businesses in virtually every
country... Five nations share the results with the US as the senior partner ... Britain,
Canada, New Zealand and Australia are very much acting as subordinate information
servicers "
An article in the
mailinglist ukcrypto, suggests there is a link between this interception capacity and the
pressure for data recovery. That thought is also suggested in a Swedish newspaper; "Storebror
vill avlyssna", Dagen Nyheter, 9 Jan 1997
This is also in expressed in a Congressional record, July 15, 1998
" Mr. Craig; ... Export restrictions on encryption products assist
the Intelligence Community in its signals intelligence mission. By collecting and
analyzing signals intelligence, U.S. intelligence agencies seek to understand the
policies, intentions, and plans of foreign state"
Data Recovery, backdoor in all US-exported software
Web-articles in chronological order
Listening In,
Jason Vest, Village Voice, August 11, 1998 "Indeed, a soon-to-be finalized European Parliament report on
ECHELON has created quite a stir on the other side of the Atlantic. The report's
revelations are so serious that it strongly recommends an intensive investigation of NSA
operations."
[This is the first reference i have found that indicates a reaction from EU. I have
requested for more detail from editor@villagevoice.com
/Laszlo]
Congress needs to act on
encryption legislation, Congressional record, July 15, 1998 "Mr. Craig. " ...We must create legislation that addresses consumer demand
for encrypted products while also meeting the needs of law enforcementlegislation that
fosters a global marketplace dominated by U.S. encryption products. Those products, of
course, will be a great benefit to our national security."
Mr. Shelby. ... Export controls on encryption and on other products serve a clearly
defined purpose to protect our nation's security. The Intelligence Committee believes that
the effects on U.S. national security must be the paramount concern when considering any
proposed change to encryption export policy, ... Export restrictions on encryption
products assist the Intelligence Community in its signals intelligence mission.
By collecting and analyzing signals intelligence, U.S. intelligence agencies seek
to understand the policies, intentions, and plans of foreign state and nonstate
actors. Signals intelligence plays an important role in the formation of American foreign
and defense policy. ... "
Echelon: Americas spy in the sky
First published in US Journal, page
34, June 5, 1998 "But European diplomats are tearing the shroud of secrecy, tired of snooping by
the US on their citizens. The use of ECHELON against European citizens was a central topic
in a European Parliament STOA report published this past January, “Technologies of
Political Control,” which confirmed a decades worth of reports by several determined
journalists about global spying by the NSA. ...
Now you may wonder how it is that the NSA can conduct spying within US borders in
violation of its charter barring domestic surveillance. This is where UKUSA works to their
advantage. The two primary listening stations at Sugar Grove, West Virginia and Yakima,
Washington are manned by “on loan” intelligence officials from the one of the
cooperating agencies. If they uncover information regarding a US citizen, they walk across
the hall and give the information to the NSA liaison officer, effectively circumventing
the domestic surveillance prohibition. ...
Much of the recent press coverage has focused on the growing European outrage at the use
of ECHELON and the British participation in the UKUSA intelligence arrangement.
"
Spy Station F83, The Sunday Times (UK) Internet Edition, May 31, 1998 "Last week Wölfgang Zeitlmann, chairman of the German parliament's commission
overseeing its intelligence services, went on the offensive. "It is known that the
Americans have spied [on us] in the past. We have caught them at it. The issue is: were
these just isolated cases or are they part of a wider strategy by the American
government," he demanded. "It is important that both the British and the German
governments pursue this matter with the Americans as soon as possible." Unease is
also evident in France. "What is Great Britain, as a member of the European Union,
doing participating in a programme which since the end of the cold war has concentrated on
spying on her European partners on behalf of the United States?" asked David Nataf, a
French lawyer for a body representing French defence, aerospace and telecommunications
companies. ... In Italy, Franco Frattini, head of the parliamentary committee for
information and security services, has demanded an explanation of Menwith Hill's
activities from Romano Prodi, the prime minister. "
DoD News
Briefing, Tuesday, April 21, 1998, Captain Mike Doubleday, DASD (PA) "Captain Doubleday: Welcome to the briefing. I
have no announcements, so let me try and answer some questions.
[Big snip, Last question..] Q: Can you comment about a report recently to the European parliament
concerning the development these last years of U.S. and British eavesdropping system
called Echelon. A: I'm sorry to say I have absolutely nothing on that. Press: Thank you."
[To verify the text, subscribe to; PERISCOPE's
USNI Military Database]
[no title found]The Independent, Saturday, 11 April 1998 [search
for a direct link to the article] "BRITAIN belongs to a consortium of electronic espionage agencies in the
Anglo-Saxon world which systematically eavesdrops on business and economic secrets in
European Union countries.
This allegation will be made next month in a report commissioned by the European
Parliament, which will denounce Britain's role as a double-agent, spying on its own
European partners. ...
"It is profoundly shocking and should provoke a general outcry," said
Jean-Pierre Millet, a French lawyer specialising in computer crime. "Britain's
European partners have a right to be furious but [the British] won't abandon their pact
with the US."
According to Le Figaro, other EU governments have known of the existence of Echelon, and
Britain's part in it, for seven years. They have chosen to make no public complaint but
instead warn companies of the dangers of transmitting sensitive information on
international telephone lines, which use satellite links."
The Austrian parliment made a special report; "Developments and Issues in
Surveillance Technology", (04/10/1998) "This article is excerpted from a paper entitled "An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control"
written by Steven Wright of the Omega Foundation, Manchester, UK. The report was submitted
to the European Parliament earlier this year, but was not released to the public. It's
entry into the public domain was two fold, first a German magazine obtained the report and
placed it on the Internet resulting in numerous articles being published in Germany. Only
after the Austrian Parliamentarian made the document public because it was believed that
the Austrian parliament is being bugged, did the article reach world-wide attention."
[To read this report, subscribe to; "PERISCOPE's
USNI Military Database ]
Top-secret spy agency passes first inspectionThe Toronto Star. April 6, 1998 (no longer
on-line, or found on the news papers search engine) "Bisson said the issue of whether Canada spies on friendly nations is an
operational matter that has national security implications and is outside his mandate of
ensuring the lawfulness of CSE activities.
It is not illegal to intercept foreign communications. "
State Department
misses boat on telecom Snooping printed in Network Security, March -98.
The articles gives additional locations of listening stations in several countries that
was built up during the cold war. The article says that they forwards interesting
information to NSA. Appended to the article i have included source references. It is
unclear if this is targeted against non-military traffic, as Echelon.
Sweden and Denmark "... no mention is made of listening
stations at Aflandhage outside Copenhagen and at Bromma Airport outside Stockholm that
routinely intercept phone calls and pass them via an intelligence network that includes
UK, Germany, Norway and Iceland, to NSA headquarter at fort Mead, Maryland USA."
From Denmark, i received this information:
Aflandhage is a known intercepting station which was documented quite thoroughly in the
beginning of 1980 by one of the peace organisations. It is located at the edge of the
island Amager, south of Kastrup Airport. The station is so close to the Kastrup Airport,
that its antennas can be seen to the left at take off in flight direction to the south,
and to the right at landing from a flight direction at north.
The stations purpose was to be one of the links in NATO's early warning system against
Russian missiles. It was almost a public secret that the station also intercepted
diplomatic traffic to/from Copenhagen.
FRA is the Swedish
military signal intelligence. It is located about 4 kilometers south of Bromma airport on
the west side of an island called Lovön. (The east side of lovön, is more known by the
public due to the royal castle) In the telephone cataloge, the map over the west side of
the island is missing.
Norway. "... the presence of a Norwegian eavesdropping
station at Jessheim, 25 miles Northeast of Oslo which monitors domestic Norwegian
Communications. Items of interest are passed to the NSA headquarters in the US."
From Norway, i received this information.
The station at Jessheim is clearly described in the Norwegian book; "Onkel
Sams Kaniner - teknisk etteretning i Norge", by Owen Wilkes and Nils Petter
Gleditsch, Pax forlag, 1981, ISBN 82-530-11423.
About the station at Jessheim it is said at page 37 (in the first edition) amongst
other things, that one possible task for the station was to intercept the embassy traffic
from the following countries that used radio to communicate with their homelands;
Yugoslavia, China, Polen, Soviet, USA. North Korea has applied for radio communication.
The book mentions several other stations, located at; Vadsø, Skage, Randaberg, Jessheim,
Viksjøfjell, NORSAR. The book describes a widespread network of radio interception from
several stations in Norway. It was mainly financed by USA, and the speculation is that
Norway paid back by forwarding information to USA.
A quote from the book "En mulig forklaring er at dete anlegget har til oppgave å avlytte ambassadenes
radiosamband inn og ut av Oslo. (fotnote. pr. februar 1979 hadde ambassadene fra følgende
land installert radiosendere for samband med hjemlandet: Jugoslavia, Kina, Polen, Sovjet,
Storbritannia og USA. I tillegg hadde Nord-Korea en søknad til behandling (NTB-melding
27. februar 1979)). Jessheim er langt nok unna Oslo til å være uforstyrret av elektrisk
støy fra industri o.l., men nær nok til å fange opp jordbølgen fra sendere i
Oslo."
More information about Norway can be found in Exchange
and Liasion Arrangements Chapter 12 from the book "The U.S. Intelligence
Community", by Jeffrey T. Richelson, New York, Ballinger, 1989. Chapter 8: Signals Intelligence might also be of
general interrest.
Chapter 8: Foreign Bases: a Net Spread Wide"Deep
Black: Space Espionage and National Security", by William Burrows. New York,
Random House, 1986. Has more information on cold war listening bases.
Italy. "... surveillance stations scattered throughout the
country. One of these is a National Security Agency operated microwave intercept station
located in Italian military zone near the northern Italian village of Sorico, north of
Lake Como. This site not only intercepts northern Italian microwave communications but
also those emanating from the Swiss telecommunications centre at the top of Mount Generoso
across the Italian border in Ticino."
References The author of the article, Wayne Madsen, faxed me this message:
"The source reference for the Norwegain/Danish/Swedish SIGINT intercept sites are:
- "Vejviser til det danske led i kaeden" Militaerkritiskt
Forsvar, no 4, 1981, by Soren Moller Christensen.
- "Intelligence installation in Norway; Their number, location, Function and
legality" International Peace reseach institute, Oslo, July 1979.
- "The ties that bind" Unwin Hyman, London 1990, by Jeffrey
Richelsson and Desmond Ball
- On northern Italy. Sweicher Illustriert, 27 feb, 1989. [There is appeaently an article
in that magazine./lb]
To the best of my knowledge, only those sites formerly targeting USSR have been dismantled
or reformed to the US. The diplomatic traffic SIGINT sites remain in operation (Bromma,
Jessheim, Aflandshage, Keflavik, and Santahamina outside of Helsinki)"
Note the aditional information about the existence of stations at Keflavik, Iceland,
and Santahamina outside of Helsinki, Finland.
[check if there is a linkto;] "A May 31st article by Nicholas Rufford in the
Sunday (London) Times quoted several officials from the German, French and Italian
intelligence agencies decrying the expansion of the NSA facility on the windswept North
Yorkshire moors of Menwith Hill, England (Field Station F83)"
European Study Paints a Chilling
Portrait of Technology's Uses, New York Times,
February 24, 1998. [This article could not be found with the search engine at New
York Times. Perhaps it only exists in the paper verion? /Laszlo] "Wright also reports that in 1995 the EU states signed a memorandum of
understanding (which remains classified) to set up a new international telephone tapping
network.
The document apparently reflects concerns among European intelligence agencies that modern
scrambling and coding technology could prevent them from tapping private
communications. The EU governments agreed to cooperate closely on this issue with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, "yet early minutes of these meetings suggest that
the original initiative came from Washington," Wright's report says. ... These
plans have "never been subject to proper parliamentary discussion [in Europe],"
Wright stresses. ...
"The European parliament should reject proposals from the United States for making
private messages via the Internet accessible to U.S. intelligence agencies," he adds.
Nor should it agree on new encryption controls without considering "the civil and
human rights of European citizens and the commercial rights of companies to operate
without unwarranted surveillance by intelligence agencies operating in conjunction with
multinational competitors" an obvious reference to American agencies, which are
often perceived as sharing collateral economic intelligence with U.S. companies."
Party Line
Civil Liberties, February 10, 1998 "But the Echelon system is a whole new critter; it doesn’t monitor the
communications of just Saddam Hussein and his merry men, or the post-Soviet purveyors of
glow-in-the-dark explosives — nope, the Echelon system keeps an eye on
everybody."
File 4--National &
International Communications Interceptions Networks Feb 1, 1998, Computer underground
Digest, Volume 10 : Issue 08, ISSN 1004-042X, "Whilst there is much information gathered about potential terrorists, there is a
lot of economic intelligence, notably intensive monitoring of all the countries
participating in the GATT negotiations. But Hager found that by far the main priorities of
this system continued to be military and political intelligence applicable to their wider
interests."
EuroParl Rpt on NSA, Trade,
& Crypto Controls 30 Jan 1998, comp.risks Volume 19, Issue 58 "[...] unlike many of the electronic spy systems developed during the cold war,
ECHELON is designed for primarily non- military targets: governments, organizations and
businesses in virtually every country. The ECHELON system works by indiscriminately
intercepting very large quantities of communications and then siphoning out what is
valuable using artificial intelligence aids like Memex to find key words."
Watching all over the World, 13th
January 1998, TRIBUNE, by Glyn Ford. Member of the European Parliament’s Committees on Civil
Liberties and Internal Affairs. (which is the recipient of the report; "An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control") "The report also reinforces the disclosures made early last year that the former
Conservative Government colluded with other EU Member States to set up an international
telephone tapping network based on the EU, USA, Australia and Canada. In 1995 the EU
states signed a Memorandum of Understanding which expressed the concern of European
Intelligence agencies first that advancing telecommunications technologies could prevent
them from tapping calls on the internet, second that new encryption technologies could
lock the doors to electronic snooping, and third that the privatisation of state-owned
telephone companies - of whom the Police Co-operation Working Party of the EU reported
"initial contacts with various consortia … has met with the most diverse
reactions ranging from great willingness to co-operate on the one hand, to an almost total
refusal to co-operate" - might prevent them from tapping private
communications."
Despatches,
BBC News December 18, 1997 "A new report commissioned by the European Parliament has officially confirmed
the existence of what it says is a gigantic electronic spy network that monitors almost
all phone, fax and other electronic communications in Europe. "
Insight On The News published in sept
1997 three articles on economic espionage that took place in 1993 on a five-day conference
with leaders of about 15 nations gathered for a APEC, the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation conference. Did Clinton Bug Conclave for Cash?,
Sept 15, 1997 "A presidential conference with Asian leaders was bugged by U.S. intelligence
agencies, say high-level sources, and information was passed from the White House to big
Democratic corporate donors.... the only reason it has come to light is because of
concerns raised by high-level sources within federal law-enforcement and intelligence
circles that the operation was compromised by politicians ...
But clandestine snooping on a grand scale is familiar stuff in the Washington area. It is
a widely known secret that the NSA has a system known as ECHELON by which the government
can -- and routinely does -- intercept E-mail, fax, telex and telephone communications.
Designed primarily for nonmilitary targets -- including governments, businesses and
individuals -- the system steals communications internationally, says John Pike, the
director of cyberstrategy projects at the Washington-based Federation of American
Scientists.
. . . . "I assume that it is all being monitored with keyword scanning," Pike
says. "They throw away almost all of the stuff they collect. But they have that watch
list for names and they are working on voice-recognition software and that's going to be
the big thing in the future." Such technology is used jointly by NSA and its allies
as a "creative" means to avoid court orders, Pike claims.
. . . . In 1992, a year before the alleged bugging of the Seattle conference, a group of
agents for GCHQ, the British counterpart of the NSA, blasted ECHELON. "We feel we can
no longer remain silent regarding that which we regard to be gross malpractice and
negligence within the establishment in which we operate," the intelligence agents
told the London Observer. The British agents claimed the NSA even helped intercept
communications from Amnesty International and Christian Aid. Asked about ECHELON, the NSA
says, "We have no information to provide."
. . . . Given all this snooping, there is little wonder that a worldwide market has
developed for impenetrable encryption,... "What we need is strong encryption
available to everybody. Yes, it's going to cramp the style of the folks at the Puzzle
Palace [NSA], but a life more difficult at NSA means life is easier for the rest of the
planet. The benefits of promoting global Internet commerce outweigh the harm to the
NSA."
. . . . But, of course, exporting sophisticated encryption technology is prohibited, and
everything bureaucratically possible is being done to restrict its widespread
dissemination in the United States and overseas." Snoops, Sex and Videotape,
Sept. 29, 1997 "The reason for the long silence, .[4 years] .. is that the
assignment was presented as being for the good of the country. National security was at
stake.... the classified information was not leaked but deliberately provided
through a complex chain of agencies and operatives for the sole purpose of retaining
political power. Much of the information was real-time data that went directly to the NSA
via satellites, while other confidential information was taken by FBI couriers to the NSA.
In total, 10,000 to 15,000 conversations were recorded." Snooping on Allies Embarrasses U.S,
10/20/97 "Blackmail, lies and deceit may be the only fitting description of the 1993
Seattle Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit where dignitaries from 17
countries are reported to have been placed under electronic surveillance by American
agents"
NSA'S BUSINESS PLAN: "GLOBAL
ACCESS", by Duncan Campbell in Covert Action Quarterly, No. 59 (Winter 1996-97) Available
in print only
"The National Security Agency's top secret ECHELON Dictionary system, run with
Canada, NZ, UK, and Australia, monitors the world's telephone, e-mail, and telex
communications."
Inside the US-Canada Spyworld: Secund
thoughts from the second oldest professionby Mike Frost. CovertAction,
Winter 1997, issue #59.
Available in print only
"After 12 years as a Canadian spy, Frost details how intelligence agencies circumvent
laws and accountability to surveil world leaders, peace and labour groups, and private
citizens." About his book; Spyworld,
1994, amazone.com says: " This title is out of print. Although it is no longer available from the
publisher, we'll query our network of used bookstores for you and send an update within
one to two weeks."
Can an ISDN phone be turned into a bugging device?
One chapter in the report to the European warns about how an ISDN phone can be turned
into a bugging device. But the claim is not backed up by any reference to the CCITT -
recomendations. This chapter can therefore not be verified. Other researcher can use my notes on how far i got into
tracking the references of this claim. The notes also contain information about another
technique called frequency flooding that is roumored to allow an ordinary
telephone (non-ISDN) to become a listening device. /Laszlo
"4.4 National & International Communications Interceptions
Networks
Modern communications systems are virtually transparent to the advanced interceptions
equipment which can be used to listen in. Some systems even lend themselves to a dual role
as a national interceptions network. For example the message switching system used on
digital exchanges like System X in the UK supports an Integrated Services Digital Network
(ISDN) protocol. This allows digital devices. E.g. fax to share the system with existing
lines. The ISDN subset is defined in their documents as "Signalling CCITT1-series
interface for ISDN access. What is not widely known is that built in to the international
CCITT protocol is the ability to take phones 'off hook' and listen to the conversations
occurring near the phone, without the user being aware that it is happening. (SGR
Newsletter, No.4,1993) This effectively means that a national dial up telephone tapping
capacity is built into these systems from the start. (System X has been exported to Russia
and China) Similarly, the digital technology required to pinpoint mobile phone users for
incoming phone calls, means that all mobile phone users in a country when activated, are
mini-tracking devices, giving their owners whereabouts at any time and stored in the
company's computer for up to two years. Coupled with System X technology, this is a custom
built mobile track, tail and tap system par excellence. (Sunday telegraph, 2.2.97)"
The Statewatch report One of the references in the report to the European parliament is a report from Statewatch on "European
Union and FBI Launch Global Surveillance System", 24 Feb 1997. EU and
FBI should have made an agreement on big scale interception in Europe in order to catch
criminals. Statewatch warns about connections to the existing Echelon-system.
The ECHELON "...system works by indiscriminately intercepting very large
quantities of communications and using computers to identify and extract messages from the
mass of unwanted ones."
"It is the interface of the ECHELON system and its potential development on phone
calls combined with the standardisation of "tappable" telecommunications centres
and equipment being sponsored by the EU and the USA which presents a truly global threat
over which there are no legal or democratic controls. "
Wiretaps: Europe is launching a
universal wiretap network April 14, 1997, bulletin lambda 3.02 "The British watchdog group Statewatch
revealed confidential documents from the European Union's intergovernmental meetings that
show a global wiretapping system is under way among Europe, the United States and other
industrialized countries."
Secret Power
Another reference in the report to the European parliament is the book; "Secret Power- New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network" This book documented in detail, for the first time, the existence of the
Echelon-project. This is the point where intelligence agencies stepped over to the
civilian sphere. The book can be ordered at FAS,
Federation of American Scientists. for $33
Author: Nicky Hager. 301pp, ISBN: 0-908802-35-8, Craig Potton Publishing (Box 555, Nelson,
New Zealand) The first edition seems to be published in august -96, and sold out. A second
edition is now out.
Press Release "Few New Zealanders have heard of the Government Communications Security Bureau
(GCSB). Even fewer know what the GCSB does. In fact, the GCSB is New Zealand's largest and
most secret intelligence agency, using state-of-the-art electronics to spy on countries
throughout the Pacific, including friends, neighbours and trading partners. " Foreword by David Lange Prime
Minister of New Zealand 1984-89 "But it was not until I read this book that I had any idea that we had been
committed to an international integrated electronic network. ... I as Prime Minister in
charge of the intelligence services, was never told....it is an outrage that I and other
ministers were told so little, and this raises the question of to whom those concerned saw
themselves ultimately answerable. " Foreword by Jeffrey Richelson
a leading authority on United States intelligence agencies and author of 'America's Secret
Eyes in the Sky', and co-author of 'The Ties That Bind'. "What the public does know, it knows largely because of the efforts of
industrious researchers who have collected and analysed obscure documents and media
accounts, and interviewed present and former intelligence officers who can shed light on
signals intelligence operations. " Chapter 1 1984 "During his first three years on the NSA posting Singleton hosted 50 or more
staff from the Wellington intelligence organisations to 4 July parties at his home. But
outside intelligence circles, not even the Prime Minister knew of his role. As another
former Prime Minister said about the GCSB: "You don't know what you don't know. The
whole thing was a bit of an act of faith."" Chapter 2 Hooked up to the spy
network: the UKUSA system "The NSA pushed for the creation of the system and has the supreme position
within it. It has subsidised the allies by providing the sophisticated computer programmes
used in the system, it undertakes the bulk of the interception operations and, in return,
it can be assumed to have full access to all the allies' capabilities. "
The author, Nicky Hager, also wrote Exposing
the Global Surveillence System in Covert Action Quarterly,
No. 59 (Winter 1996-97) "In the late 1980s, in a decision it probably regrets, the US prompted New
Zealand to join a new and highly secret global intelligence system. Hagers investigation
into it and his discovery of the ECHELON dictionary has revealed one of the world's
biggest, most closely helt intelligence projects. The system allows spy agencies to
monitor most of the world's telephone, e-mail and telex communications."
New Zealand improves intercepting capability Kiwis spied on by base --
opponents The Press On-Line - News Page,
Jan 13, 1998 "Labour MP Tim Barnett has raised concerns over a second $3.6 million antenna
being erected at Waihopai, which will allow the Government Communications Security Bureau
to intercept more foreign satellite communications than it can now. Mr Barnett and peace
activists say there is no guarantee the antenna will not be used to spy on New Zealanders.
" Improved
Capabilities for GCSB, 30 July 1997, Prime Minister, Jim Bolger, New Zealand Executive
Government News Release Archive "Prime Minister ... announced two decisions ...to enhance the signals
intelligence collection capability of the Government Communications Security Bureau
(GCSB).
Both initiatives relate to the GCSB's satellite monitoring station ...which has made a
significant contribution to New Zealand's foreign intelligence collection capability ...Mr
Bolger said a second antenna and covering radome will shortly be constructed ...The second
decision will enable the station to collect foreign voice communications which have until
now been unable to be monitored by GCSB for legal reasons. " Alliance condemns GCSB
expansion 30th July 1997, New Zealand, Alliance Leader Jim Anderton replies. "Who are the enemies we are spying on? New Zealand's real enemies are not our
neighbours. Our enemies are sickness, hunger, illiteracy and environmental degradation.
Spending money on spies helps our real enemies to prevail. "
Federation of American Scientists defines Echelon as: "ECHELON consists of a global network of computers that automatically search
through millions of intercepted for pre-programmed keywords or fax, telex and e-mail
addresses. Every word of every message in the frequencies and channels selected at a
station is automatically searched. The processors in the network are known as the ECHELON
Dictionaries. ECHELON connects all these computers and allows the individual stations to
function as distributed elements an integrated system. An ECHELON station's Dictionary
contains not only its parent agency's chosen keywords, but also lists for each of the
other four agencies in the UKUSA system [NSA, GCHQ, DSD, GCSB and CSE] "
Intelligence Resource Program by FAS, Federation
of American Scientists "With the end of the Cold War the community faces extraordinary challenges. This
site is a comprehensive resource on the past and future of the American intelligence
community. "
Media
coverage in Norway and Sweden... 14 articles
In the article; [USA
driver e-spionasje også i Norge, Nettavisen, 18 dec 1997] , the norwegian defence
department takes an interresting standpoint. They se no reason to comment on Echelon since
is designed to intercept civilian traffic, and thus it is not a military issue.
The UKUSA Community webpage by Granite Island Group undated.
A summary of how the inner circle of five intelligence agencies was created after 2:nd
world war.
Spies
like US and Cooking
up a charter for snooping, The Electronic
Telegraph 16 December 1997 "Disclosures to the US Congress reveal some of the functions of the agreements.
Under the terms of the five nations carved up the Earth into five spheres of influence,
and each country was assigned particular targets. (Britain was responsible for
intercepting the Chinese)."
$pying for Uncle $am -Economic Intelligence
by Pratap Chattergee, Covert Action Quarterly, No. 55 (Winter 1996) "Now the spy establishment faces threats of a different sort. The Cold War is
over, and its future depends on finding new public rationales for its existence. ...the
game remains the same, but the face of the foe has changed. The threat is no longer
communists, but competing capitalists. "
"Joined at the
Hip" Intelligence Cooperation from Intelligence
Online, 7 October 1996, ISSN 1245-2122 "The UKUSA Treaty was also signed in 1947 and when I say `sign' it's so secret
that nobody knows who signed it and in fact it's claimed that there is absolutely no
written record. "
NSA: America's Fortress of
Spies Part one of The Sun's NSA series, Baltimore Sun, 1995 "From a commercial communications satellite, NSA lifted all the faxes and phone
calls between the European consortium Airbus, the Saudi national airline and the Saudi
government. The agency found that Airbus agents were offering bribes to a Saudi official.
It passed the information to U.S. officials pressing the bid of Boeing Co. and McDonnell
Douglas Corp., which triumphed last year in the $6 billion competition."
"Spyworld", co-authored by a former staffer of the Canadian
CSE, Mike Frost. Published by Doubleday, November 1994, ISBN: 0385254946. Only
avalible in print "A expose of the Canadian UKUSA agency, ... Mike Frost, blew the whistle on some
shocking abuses of power by the members of the UKUSA alliance. He revealed how CSE did
favours for the Brits, bugging some of Margaret Thatcher's ministers to see if they were
loyal to her. He also revealed CSE did "favours" for its UKUSA allies that
helped them evade domestic laws against spying and that CSE spied on its own citizens,
often for questionable benefit."
Exchange and Liasion Arrangements Chapter 12
from the book "The U.S. Intelligence Community", by Jeffrey T.
Richelson, New York, Ballinger, 1989
Describes the BR-USA and UK-USA, and other countries arrangements with US. For example
Finland and Norway. "United States relies for a significant portion of its intelligence on exchange
and liaison arrangements with a variety of foreign nations. "
"Somebody's listening; They've got it taped".
New Statesman magazine, 12 August 1988, Duncan
Campbell
[This article is probably the first time that the word Echelon is in print, and reveiled
as a computerised network /Laszlo] "When the new Interception of Communications Act was passed in 1985, however, it
was obviously designed to make special provision for operations like ECHELON ... to trawl
all international communications to and from Britain. [it] allows warrants
to be issued to intercept any general type of international messages to or from Britain if
this is "in the interests of national security" or "for the purpose of
safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom". Such warrants also allow
GCHQ to tap any or all other communications on the same cables or satellites that may have
to be picked up in order to select out the messages they want. So whether or not a British
government warrant can legally allow American agents to intercept private British
communications, there is no doubt that British law as well as British bases have been
designed to encourage rather than inhibit the booming industry in international
telecommunications surveillance. ...
Both British and American domestic communications are also being targeted and intercepted
by the ECHELON network, the US investigators have been told. The agencies are alleged to
have collaborated not only on targeting and interception, but also on the monitoring of
domestic UK communications."
The CIA in Australia
at Serendipity web site,
by Peter Meyer Part 3.
Transcript of a 5-part radio documentary, Watching Brief, Public Radio News Services,
Melbourne, Australia, October-November 1986. Part 1, 2, 4, 5, and might also be of
general interrest. "... CIA and its involvement in Australia and in New Zealand, including an
account of its overthrow of the Whitlam Government "
"A Spy's Story:
USA Traitor Gaoled for Forty Years After Selling codes of Rylite and Argus Projects."
Transcript of Australian 60 Minutes, 23 May 1982. "Christopher Boyce was the villain in the biggest American spy scandal for 40
years. He was gaoled for selling secrets to the Russians. And why did he do it? He says he
was angry at the CIA's dirty tricks to bring down the Whitlam Government."
1943 BRUSA, BRitain - USA "... a highly secret agreement had been signed by the neutral United States
and a Britain fighting for her life. The agreement provided for a "full exchange of
cryptographic systems, crypto analytical techniques, direction findings, radio
interception, and other technical communication matters pertaining to the diplomatic,
military, naval, and air services of Germany, Japan, and Italy."" This included England's knowledge of the Radar and Germanys Enigma chipher and USA had
broken the Japanese high-level diplomatic chipher, Purple. There where some disagreement
of who should be the boss, but it all worked out in the next step, the UKUSA-agreement.
The role of Natos countries is described as: "BRUSA [BRitain -USA] was suplemented
in 1947 by the five-power UKUSA [United Kingdom - USA]
Agreement, which according to one report, established the United States as a first
party to the treaty, and Britain, Canada, and Australia-New Zealand as secund parties.
NATO nations and such othernations as Japan and Korea later signed on as third paries.
Among the first and secind parties there is a general agreement not to restrict data, but
with the third parties the sharing is much less generous."
U.S. Electronic Espionage: A Memoir Ramparts,
Vol. 11, No. 2, August, 1972, pp. 35-50 "The article begins with commentary on information provided by an anonymous
former analyst of the National Security Agency followed by the full interview. The analyst
was later named as Perry Fellwock, at the time using the pseudonym Winslow Peck. "
Listening stations
Meanwith
Hill, RSOC- England's ground station Overwiew map 13th USASA Field Station Association formed
to foster renewed friendships among those who served at Menwith Hill Station between
1959-1966. Bob
Cryer's Last Speech to the House of Commons - Background to the base, outlining its
history and giving insights into the spying carried out there
"The
Pusher System at Menwith Hill" July 1997, by Tracy Hart - taken from the booklet
describing the High Frequency Direction Finding system. BT condemned for listing cables to US
sigint station " for revealing detailed information about top secret high capacity cables
feeding phone and other messages to and from a Yorkshire monitoring base. BT admitted this
week that they have connected three digital optical fibre cables - capable of carrying
more than 100,000 telephone calls at once - to the American intelligence base at Menwith
Hill, near Harrogate. "The national interest of the United Kingdom, even if
if is conducted dishonestly, requires this to be kept secret", said Judge Crabtree." Victory in the
Courts for Women's Peace Camp - 9th September 1997 report - Judge Crabtree at York
Crown Court declares that the new military byelaws at the spy base are invalid.
"Britain is under contract to the US to buy nuclear weapons on the condition that
bases like Menwith are allowed to operate from here and on condition that the US controls
and has access to all British intelligence operations." The Crabtree
Judgement in full - The Bylaws Judgement on 9th September at York Crown Court "...the Crown say they were and are engaged in secret intelligence gathering. It
is common ground that this is being done by means of some form of electronic or scientific
eavesdropping on many forms of communication, both international (that is to say, between
countries) and indeed it seems that there is a capability for listening into short
distance terrestrial communications both in this country and in many other countries, in
Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe, all of it for the purpose of abstracting information
useful to the military in both the United States of America and the United Kingdom. " Federation of American Scientists has more info.and pictures CBC Newsworld Documentary - US
Communication Interception 02 Jan 94 Volume 4 : Issue: 012, Computer Privacy Digest "The show gave the impression that many other individuals are being targeted by
having key words and names included in computerized "watch lists". Apparently it
is perfectly legal for the US to intercept these communications outside the US, even if
they originate in the US from US citizens or companies, without specific authorization
from a court."
At the station is also the. 451st Intelligence
Squadron "24-hour-a-day signals processing and communications security support to a
variety of Department of Defense (DoD) customers. MHS executes decisive information
operations for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, United European Command, United
States Air Forces in Europe, the National Security Agency, and the National Command
Authorities. ...It provides specialists trained and skilled in intelligence and
communication systems security to support MHS operational missions. MHS executes
intelligence and communications security operations as part of the entire DoD warfighting
team. MHS collects, analyzes, and disseminates near real-time intelligence in various
products to tactical warfighters, theater-battle commanders, unified and specified
commanders, and national-level decision makers." And Company C,
Marine Support Battalion
"The mission ... is to support cryptologic mission operations while maintaining
readiness for possible augmentation of Fleet Marine Force cryptologic and ground
electronic warfare units. ... reached its full strength of 1 officer and 20 enlisted
Marines during May 1987."
Other groundstations for interception Pine Gap -
Australia (from the Pine Gap Research Area) Federation of American Scientists has more info and pictures Leitrim-
Canada (I SPY, 10 May 1997, The Ottawa Citizen) Yakima - U.S. WA,
Washington state. Fort Meade in the state of
Maryland. NSA's headquarter. Analysis. Even more info
American
Geosynchronous SIGINT Satellites Major A. Andronov, (ISSN 0134-921X), No.12, 1993, pp.
37-43
Technical information about SIGnal INTeligence's satellites The Satellite Encyclopedia gives more
details about satellites. For Echelon, search on communication satelites
More information about satelites on Intelsat's webpage MERCURY [Advanced
VORTEX] Commercial spin off from spy satelite.
"The MERCURY signals intelligence spacecraft are designed to intercept transmissions
from broadcast communications systems such as radios, as well as radars and other
electronic systems. The interception of such transmissions can provide information on the
type and location of even low power transmitters, such as hand-held radios. "
Crypto AG
The cryptographer Boris C. W. Hagelin (1892-1983) created 1952 the company
Crypto AG, in Schweich. In 1995 the company sued Mr.
Buehler, its fired salesman, who claimed that Crypto AG had since 1957 built in a backdoor
to NSA in their encryption machines. But just a few days before engineers were to testify,
the suit was withdrawn and the parties agreed to not disclose the settlement. More details about the
Crypto AG story
The success with Crypto AG was repeated without any secrecy in January 1996 with Lotus
Notes. Export was approved in exchange of having Lotus Notes turn in the key to the
backdoor. Thus USA have the ability to read all encrypted mail created with Lotus Notes
export version. [translate SvD:s article]
Unsorted
Definition of the word Echelon:
Etymology: French échelon, literally, rung of a ladder, from Old French eschelon, from
eschele ladder, from Late Latin scala. Date: 1796
1 a (1) : an arrangement of a body of troops with its units each somewhat to the left or
right of the one in the rear like a series of steps (2) : a formation of units or
individuals resembling such an echelon (3) : a flight formation in which each airplane
flies at a certain elevation above or below and at a certain distance behind and to the
right or left of the airplane ahead b : any of several military units in echelon formation
2 a : one of a series of levels or grades (as of leadership or responsibility) in an
organization or field of activity b : a group of individuals at a particular level or
grade in an organization
Some add keywords, also called
"spookwords", at the end of their Email, Usenet postings, or Webpages, in order
to trigger the filters that searches for keyword. The purpose is to increase the amount of
messages that must be further examined and thus increase the cost of monitoring. For
example, the Emacs - editor, wellknown within the Unix community, is said to contain a
built in command that always appends three lines of random spookwords at the end of each
mail.
