-Caveat Lector-
Newspaper: Echelon Gave Authorities Warning Of Attacks
By Ned Stafford, Newsbytes
FRANKFURT, GERMANY,
13 Sep 2001, 1:16 PM CST
U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies received warning signals
at least three months ago that Middle Eastern
terrorists were planning to hijack commercial aircraft to use as
weapons to attack important symbols of
American and Israeli culture, according to a story in Germany's
daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).
The FAZ, quoting unnamed German intelligence sources, said that
the Echelon spy network was being used to
collect information about the terrorist threats, and that
U.K. intelligence services apparently also had advance warning. The FAZ, one
of Germany's most respected dailies, said that even as far back
as six months ago western and near-east press services were
receiving information that such attacks were being planned.
Within the American intelligence community, the warnings were
taken seriously and surveillance intensified, the FAZ said. However,
there was disagreement on how such terrorist attacks could be
prevented, the newspaper said.
Echelon is said to be a vast information collection system
capable of monitoring all the electronic communications in the world. It is
thought to be operated by the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. No government agency has ever confirmed or
denied its existence. However, an EU committee that investigated
Echelon for more than a year just last week reported its belief that
the system does exist.
The EU committee said that Echelon sucks up electronic
transmissions "like a vacuum cleaner," using keyword search techniques to
sift through enormous amounts of data.
The FAZ, in its news story, described the system as covering
the whole world with 120 satellites. The newspaper also said Israeli
intelligence had collected information indicated that Arab terrorist
groups planned to hijack planes in Europe to use as weapons to
attack targets in Tel Aviv and other coastal cities in Israel.
Because of increasing concerns of plane hijackings, Israel has
tested a new x-ray machine at the Tel Aviv airport, the FAZ said. The
machine capable of detecting all known explosive elements, even
if only in small quantities, the newspaper said.
The FAZ said that German intelligence fears that in coming days
planes will be hijacked in Europe and the Near East, and that there
is no sure way to protect against it.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
13:16 CST
Reposted 14:52 CST
(20010913/WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/ECHELON/PHOTO)
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