----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2000 3:17 PM Subject: [Sightings] EXPOSING THE GLOBAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (4) > INFORMATION CONTROL: A highly organized system has been developed to > control what is being searched for by each station and who can have > access to it. This is at the heart of ECHELON operations and works as > follows. > > The individual station's Dictionary computers do not simply have a > long list of keywords to search for. And they do not send all the > information into some huge database that participating agencies can > dip into as they wish. It is much more controlled. > > The search lists are organized into the same categories, referred to > by the four digit numbers. Each agency decides its own categories > according to its responsibilities for producing intelligence for the > network. For GCSB, this means South Pacific governments, Japanese > diplomatic, Russian Antarctic activities, and so on. > > The agency then works out about 10 to 50 keywords for selection in > each category. The keywords include such things as names of people, > ships, organizations, country names, and subject names. They also > include the known telex and fax numbers and Internet addresses of any > individuals, businesses, organizations, and government offices that > are targets. These are generally written as part of the message text > and so are easily recognized by the Dictionary computers. > > The agencies also specify combinations of keywords to help sift out > communications of interest. For example, they might search for > diplomatic cables containing both the words "Santiago" and "aid," or > cables containing the word "Santiago" but not "consul" (to avoid the > masses of routine consular communications). It is these sets of words > and numbers (and combinations), under a particular category, that get > placed in the Dictionary computers. (Staff in the five agencies > called Dictionary Managers enter and update the keyword search lists > for each agency.) > > The whole system, devised by the NSA, has been adopted completely by > the other agencies. The Dictionary computers search through all the > incoming messages and, whenever they encounter one with any of the > agencies' keywords, they select it. At the same time, the computer > automatically notes technical details such as the time and place of > interception on the piece of intercept so that analysts reading it, > in whichever agency it is going to, know where it came from, and what > it is. Finally, the computer writes the four-digit code (for the > category with the keywords in that message) at the bottom of the > message's text. This is important. It means that when all the > intercepted messages end up together in the database at one of the > agency headquarters, the messages on a particular subject can be > located again. Later, when the analyst using the Dictionary system > selects the four- digit code for the category he or she wants, the > computer simply searches through all the messages in the database for > the ones which have been tagged with that number. > > This system is very effective for controlling which agencies can get > what from the global network because each agency only gets the > intelligence out of the ECHELON system from its own numbers. It does > not have any access to the raw intelligence coming out of the system > to the other agencies. For example, although most of the GCSB's > intelligence production is primarily to serve the UKUSA alliance, New > Zealand does not have access to the whole ECHELON network. The access > it does have is strictly controlled. A New Zealand intelligence > officer explained: "The agencies can all apply for numbers on each > other's Dictionaries. The hardest to deal with are the Americans. ... > [There are] more hoops to jump through, unless it is in their > interest, in which case they'll do it for you." > > There is only one agency which, by virtue of its size and role within > the alliance, will have access to the full potential of the ECHELON > system the agency that set it up. What is the system used for? Anyone > listening to official "discussion" of intelligence could be forgiven > for thinking that, since the end of the Cold War, the key targets of > the massive UKUSA intelligence machine are terrorism, weapons > proliferation, and economic intelligence. The idea that economic > intelligence has become very important, in particular, has been > carefully cultivated by intelligence agencies intent on preserving > their post-Cold War budgets. It has become an article of faith in > much discussion of intelligence. However, I have found no evidence > that these are now the primary concerns of organizations such as NSA. > > QUICKER INTELLIGENCE, SAME MISSION: A different story emerges after > examining very detailed information I have been given about the > intelligence New Zealand collects for the UKUSA allies and detailed > descriptions of what is in the yards-deep intelligence reports New > Zealand receives from its four allies each week. There is quite a lot > of intelligence collected about potential terrorists, and there is > quite a lot of economic intelligence, notably intensive monitoring of > all the countries participating in GATT negotiations. But by far, the > main priorities of the intelligence alliance continue to be political > and military intelligence to assist the larger allies to pursue their > interests around the world. Anyone and anything the particular > governments are concerned about can become a target. > > With capabilities so secret and so powerful, almost anything goes. > For example, in June 1992, a group of current "highly placed > intelligence operatives" from the British GCHQ spoke to the London > Observer: "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." They gave as examples GCHQ > interception of three charitable organizations, including Amnesty > International and Christian Aid. As the Observer reported: "At any > time GCHQ is able to home in on their communications for a routine > target request," the GCHQ source said. In the case of phone taps the > procedure is known as Mantis. With telexes it is called Mayfly. By > keying in a code relating to Third World aid, the source was able to > demonstrate telex "fixes" on the three organizations. "It is then > possible to key in a trigger word which enables us to home in on the > telex communications whenever that word appears," he said. "And we > can read a pre-determined number of characters either side of the > keyword." Without actually naming it, this was a fairly precise > description of how the ECHELON Dictionary system works. Again, what > was not revealed in the publicity was that this is a UKUSA-wide > system. The design of ECHELON means that the interception of these > organizations could have occurred anywhere in the network, at any > station where the GCHQ had requested that the four-digit code > covering Third World aid be placed. > > Note that these GCHQ officers mentioned that the system was being > used for telephone calls. In New Zealand, ECHELON is used only to > intercept written communications: fax, e-mail, and telex. The reason, > according to intelligence staff, is that the agency does not have the > staff to analyze large quantities of telephone conversations. > > Mike Frost's expos of Canadian "embassy collection" operations > described the NSA computers they used, called Oratory, that > can "listen" to telephone calls and recognize when keywords are > spoken. Just as we can recognize words spoken in all the different > tones and accents we encounter, so too, according to Frost, can these > computers. Telephone calls containing keywords are automatically > extracted from the masses of other calls and recorded digitally on > magnetic tapes for analysts back at agency headquarters. However, > high volume voice recognition computers will be technically difficult > to perfect, and my New Zealand-based sources could not confirm that > this capability exists. But, if or when it is perfected, the > implications would be immense. It would mean that the UKUSA agencies > could use machines to search through all the international telephone > calls in the world, in the same way that they do written messages. If > this equipment exists for use in embassy collection, it will > presumably be used in all the stations throughout the ECHELON > network. It is yet to be confirmed how extensively telephone > communications are being targeted by the ECHELON stations for the > other agencies. > > The easiest pickings for the ECHELON system are the individuals, > organizations, and governments that do not use encryption. In New > Zealand's area, for example, it has proved especially useful against > already vulnerable South Pacific nations which do not use any coding, > even for government communications (all these communications of New > Zealand's neighbors are supplied, unscreened, to its UKUSA allies). > As a result of the revelations in my book, there is currently a > project under way in the Pacific to promote and supply publicly > available encryption software to vulnerable organizations such as > democracy movements in countries with repressive governments. This is > one practical way of curbing illegitimate uses of the ECHELON > capabilities. > > One final comment. All the newspapers, commentators, and "well placed > sources" told the public that New Zealand was cut off from US > intelligence in the mid-1980s. That was entirely untrue. The > intelligence supply to New Zealand did not stop, and instead, the > decade since has been a period of increased integration of New > Zealand into the US system. Virtually everything the equipment, > manuals, ways of operating, jargon, codes, and so on, used in the > GCSB continues to be imported entirely from the larger allies (in > practice, usually the NSA). As with the Australian and Canadian > agencies, most of the priorities continue to come from the US, too. > > The main thing that protects these agencies from change is their > secrecy. On the day my book arrived in the book shops, without prior > publicity, there was an all-day meeting of the intelligence > bureaucrats in the prime minister's department trying to decide if > they could prevent it from being distributed. They eventually > concluded, sensibly, that the political costs were too high. It is > understandable that they were so agitated. > > Throughout my research, I have faced official denials or governments > refusing to comment on publicity about intelligence activities. Given > the pervasive atmosphere of secrecy and stonewalling, it is always > hard for the public to judge what is fact, what is speculation, and > what is paranoia. Thus, in uncovering New Zealand's role in the NSA- > led alliance, my aim was to provide so much detail about the > operations the technical systems, the daily work of individual staff > members, and even the rooms in which they work inside intelligence > facilities that readers could feel confident that they were getting > close to the truth. I hope the information leaked by intelligence > staff in New Zealand about UKUSA and its systems such as ECHELON will > help lead to change. > >> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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