-Caveat Lector-
Does anyone really think that if they do it to Europe that they
don't do it here?
Wednesday, August 4, 1999
PERSPECTIVE ON WORLD AFFAIRS
Europe Blows Whistle on That Great
Eavesdropper, the NSA
Europe is discretely gearing up for one of
the most interesting legal battles in its
history. At stake is the future of the world's
most secretive intelligence organization,
America's National Security Agency.
The NSA is in the business of
eavesdropping on the world's communications
networks for the benefit of the United States.
In doing so, it has built a vast spying operation
that reaches into the telephone systems of
nearly every country. Its operations are so
secret that this activity, outside the U.S.,
occurs without any democratic oversight and
without any legal basis.
Over the past year, members of the
European Parliament have learned, to their
astonishment, that the NSA, in collusion with
the British government, has created the means
to intercept almost every fax, e-mail and
telephone call within the European Union. The
revelation has irritated governments throughout
Europe, culminating in a current Italian judicial
inquiry into the legality of the NSA's activity.
Sketchy details of the NSA's spying in
Europe had been common currency here for
decades but had never been formally
acknowledged. Attempts by British MPs had
for decades been ignored.
The issue has erupted now because of two
recent European Parliament studies that
confirm the existence in Britain of a network of
communications intelligence bases operated by
the NSA. The publication last year of the first
report, "An Appraisal of the Technologies of
Political Control," confirmed for the first time
that the NSA had established a surveillance
capacity over the entire European
communications network. It also described a
grid of supercomputers, known as Echelon,
capable of scanning vast areas of the
communications spectrum to detect keywords.
Of particular interest to Parliament was the
report's assertion that the NSA was beefing up
its commercial espionage activities. Its claim is
that the NSA has been routinely intercepting
sensitive traffic relating to bids, takeovers,
mergers, investments and tender offers, all for
U.S. economic benefit.
Questions have been raised by
parliamentarians in Germany, Norway,
Denmark, Holland and Sweden. Then, in
September, the plenary session of the
European Parliament took the unprecedented
step of openly debating the activities of the
NSA. In a consensus resolution, the Parliament
fired a shot across the bow of the spooks by
demanding more openness and accountability.
Any thoughts that these matters were
simply paranoid musings by fans of "The
X-Files" were scuttled in June when the second
report, "Interception Capabilities 2000," set out
the technical specifications of the interception
system. The report revealed details of a secret
plan to create a "seamless" web of
telecommunications surveillance across all
national boundaries. The strategy was advised
by national security agencies and by the FBI,
which instigated with Brussels a top-secret
planning organization called the International
Law Enforcement Telecommunications
Seminar. In time, two vast systems--one
designed for national security and one for law
enforcement--would merge and, in the process,
would cripple national control over surveillance
activities.
The scandal has found its way to
Washington. The House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence has ordered the
NSA to hand over documents relating to
Echelon. The NSA has for the first time in the
committee's history refused, claiming
attorney-client privilege.
The stand-off may well end the NSA's
privileged position. Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.),
worried by the potential breach of constitutional
privacy rights, has introduced an amendment to
the fiscal 2000 Intelligence Authorization Act
requiring the directors of the CIA and the NSA
and Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to submit a report
outlining the legal standards being employed
within project Echelon in order to safeguard the
privacy of American citizens.
The NSA's silence has fueled the present
inqu iry by the Rome judiciary. The head of the
inquiry, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vittorio De Cesare,
intends to determine the extent to which the
activities of the NSA may breach Italian law.
Italy's privacy watchdog, Stefano Rodota,
has also expressed his concern, and recently
told local media, "The U.S. government [has]
not replied to the requests for clarifications
made explicitly by the European Parliament."
Rodota has motivated his fellow privacy
commissioners throughout Europe to formally
investigate the Echelon system.
These recent events have left observers
contemplating two distressing facts. First,
national borders have disintegrated. The NSA
and its partner agencies now can intercept any
communication worldwide. Second, the
distinction between traditional police and
security agencies has blurred. The future is
without doubt a seamless, borderless,
surveillance web that touches all facets of our
communication.
- - -
Simon Davies Is a Visiting Fellow in the
Computer Security Research Centre in the
London School of Economics and Director of
the Human Rights Group, Privacy International
Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar
stories. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to
retrieve one.
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