Eavesdropping on Europe

[David.Goldstein@aba.gov.au]

An interesting story on Wired...


Cheers
David
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 Eavesdropping on Europe by Niall McKay

4:00 a.m.  30.Sep.98.PDT If the European Parliament has its way, the lid is 
about to come off what is reputedly one of the most powerful, secretive, and 
extensive spy networks in history -- if, in fact, it really exists.

In October, Europe's governing body will commission a full report into the 
workings of Echelon, a global network of highly sensitive listening posts 
operated in part by America's most clandestine intelligence organization, 
the National Security Agency.

"Frankly, the only people who have any doubt about the existence of Echelon 
are in the United States," said Glyn Ford, a British member of the European 
Parliament and a director of Scientific and Technical Options Assessment, or 
STOA, a technology advisory committee to the parliament.

Echelon is reportedly able to intercept, record, and translate any 
electronic communication -- telephone, data, cellular, fax, email, telex -- 
sent anywhere in the world. The parliamentary report will focus on concerns 
that the system has expanded and is now zeroed in on the secrets of European 
companies and elected officials.

The parliament is alarmed at reports of Echelon's impressive capabilities, 
and during a debate on 19 September, the European Union called for 
accountability. The parliament stressed that the NSA and the Government 
Communications Headquarters, which jointly operate Echelon, must adopt 
measures to guard against the system's abuse.

International cooperation on law enforcement is important, Ford said, but 
there are limits. "We want to establish a code of conduct for the systems to 
protect EU citizens and governments."

Across the Atlantic, Patrick Poole, deputy director for the Free Congress 
Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, is preparing a report on 
Echelon to present to Republican members of Congress. "I believe it's time 
we start to bring this matter to our elected officials," he said.

Poole and Ford have their work cut out for them: Neither Britain nor the 
United States will admit that Echelon even exists. The NSA declined any 
comment on a series of faxed questions for this story.

Keyword: Bomb

Over the years, enough information has leaked to suggest that the spy 
network is more than science fiction. Echelon came to the attention of the 
EU Parliament following a report commissioned by STOA last year.

"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 report said.

According to the STOA report and stories in The New York Times, The Daily 
Telegraph, and The Guardian, Echelon consists of a network of listening 
posts, antenna fields, and radar stations. The system is backed by computers 
that use language translation, speech recognition, and keyword searching to 
automatically sift through telephone, email, fax, and telex traffic.

The system is principally operated by the NSA and the GCHQ, but reportedly 
also relies on cooperation with "signals intelligence" operations in other 
countries, including the Communications Security Establishment of Canada, 
Australia's Defense Signals Directorate, and New Zealand's Government 
Communications Security Bureau.

John Pike, a security analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, 
said each of the five government agencies takes responsibility for its own 
geographical region.

Each agency reportedly maintains a glossary of keywords. If Echelon 
intercepts a transmission containing a word or phrase contained in the 
glossary -- bomb, for example -- the full conversation, email, or fax is 
recorded and shared among the agencies.

"Echelon intercepts Internet traffic at the transport layer, such as the 
TCP/IP layer, so the system doesn't care too much what it is or where it 
came from," said Pike. "For analog traffic, such as telephone conversations, 
it uses automatic voice-recognition technology to scan the conversations."

Abuses of Power?

While the EU is aware that Echelon may be a useful tool for tracking down 
global terrorists, drug barons, and international criminals, Ford said the 
parliament is concerned that the system may also be used for espionage, 
spying on peaceful nations, or gaining unfair economic advantage over 
non-member nations.

Indeed, there are many reported instances of the British and US intelligence 
agencies working together to gather information in a questionable manner.

A 1993 BBC documentary about NSA's Menwith Hill facility in England revealed 
that peace protestors had broken into the installation and stolen part of 
this glossary, known as "the Dictionary." The documentary alleged that 
Menwith Hill -- a sprawling installation covering 560 acres and employing 
more than 1,200 people -- was Echelon's nerve center.

Further evidence emerged last year, when British Telecom told a court that 
it provides high-bandwidth telecommunications into the Menwith Hill facility 
and from the facility to the United States, using a transatlantic 
fiber-optic network.

"I believe that these five intelligence agencies are working from a single 
plan," said Pike.

British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell was the first to report 
about Echelon in a 1988 article in The New Statesman. He believes that there 
is a very thin line between intelligence gathering and commercial espionage. 


Pike, of the Federation of American Scientists, believes the intelligence 
agencies operate in a gray area of international law. For example, there is 
no law prohibiting the NSA from intercepting telecommunications and data 
traffic in the United Kingdom and no law prohibiting GCHQ from doing the 
same thing in the United States.

"The view by the NSA seems to be anything that can be intercepted is fair 
game," said Pike. "And it's very hard to find out what, if any, restraints 
can be employed."

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David Goldstein
Project Officer, Online Services
Australian Broadcasting Authority

email:     david.goldstein@aba.gov.au
phone:    +61 2 9334 7938     fax:     +61 2 9334 7799
URL:        http://www.aba.gov.au
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