On Wed, 5 Jul 2000 23:57:38 -0500 (CDT) MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Agence France Presse > >Wednesday, July 5 8:30 PM SGT > >The air has ears: Echelon feeds US intelligence on Europe > >PARIS, July 5 (AFP) - > >The American electronic surveillance system Echelon, currently under >investigation by French prosecutors, is widely suspected of being deployed >around the world, and particularly in Europe, as an instrument of economic >espionage. > >The European parliament voted Wednesday to set up an ad hoc committee to >examine the issues raised by Echelon, but moves to set up a full committee >of inquiry foundered on mainly British opposition. > >Based at Fort Meade, Maryland, the network gathers information from >listening posts stationed in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia >and New Zealand, with additional input from around 120 US satellites in >geostationary orbit. > >France has been angered at the loss of huge foreign contracts due to what >it believes is eavesdropping by the US National Security Agency (NSA) >which it says operates the Echelon system to spy on Europe's industrial >secrets through 24-hour electronic surveillance. > >Paris has accused Britain of disloyalty to its European partners for >allowing the Cheltenham-based GCHQ (Government Communications >Headquarters) surveillance network to cooperate with Echelon, particularly >at its Menwith Hill outpost where two-thirds of the 1,200 personnel are >American and where, according to the Federation of American Scientists, US >officials have been in control since 1966. > >Echelon evolved out of the Cold War espionage system set up by the UKUSA >Alliance, formed in 1948 by the United States and Britain and later joined >by London's Commonwealth partners. > >According to a report by the European Parliament published last February, >it is capable of listening in on "billions of messages per hour", >including telephone calls, fax transmissions and private e-mails, and of >intercepting sensitive Europe-wide commercial communications. > >The intelligence is processed at Fort Meade by powerful computers capable >of recognising key words, names, telephone numbers and voices. > >Code-named "P-415 Echelon", the network acquired its present function in >the 1980s, and according to one US media report former British prime >minister Margaret Thatcher used Echelon's services to spy on two of her >ministers she suspected of disloyalty. > >Last January, a non-government organisation National Security Archive >posted a series of recently declassified NSA documents on the George >Washington University website (www.gwu.edu/nsarchiv/), confirming for the >first time the existence of the Echelon programme which it had previously >denied. > >One of these, dated September 3, 1991, sets out in detail the surveillance >mission of the US Navy listening post at Sugar Grove, West Virginia. > >More recent documents focus on the restrictions the NSA places on >reporting the identities of US citizens such as former president Jimmy >Carter and first lady Hillary Clinton. > >Echelon's operations were first challenged by the European Parliament in >September 1998 when MEPs accused the network of "violating the privacy of >communications by non-Americans, including European governments, companies >and citizens." > >Among the contracts believed to have been lost as a result of the Echelon >operation are a sale of Airbus airliners to Saudi Arabia in 1994, and a >Thomson-CSF weapons deal with Brazil the same year. The alleged >beneficiaries were the US firms Boeing and Raytheon. > >France has so far held back from confronting Washington directly over the >issue, perhaps partly because, according to French media reports, it has >itself set up an eavesdropping operation to capture phone conversations, >fax messages and e-mail communications in the United States. > >British MEPs have been at loggerheads over Echelon with many of their >fellow parliamentarians for whom the issue is being increasingly seen as a >choice that London has to make between loyalty to the United States and a >full commitment to Europe. >====================== > >*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material >is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest >in receiving the included information for research and educational >purposes. 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