New information on project Echelon. More articles and interviews at
http://www1.ekstrabladet.dk/netdetect/echelon.iasp
By Bo Elkjaer and Kenan Seeberg, Ekstra Bladet, Denmark
We can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] and
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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ECHELON SINGLES OUT THE RED CROSS
A bombshell in the surveillance scandal: The organization is a
possible surveillance target
The names of the organizations targeted by Echelon are now starting to
surface. Today, we can reveal that the Red Cross has been singled out as a
possible target for the world-wide surveillance system known as Echelon.
Printed in Ekstra Bladet mar. 8. 2000.
The Echelon surveillance system is an organization consisting of military
intelligence services from the USA and all the other NATO member
countries, including Denmark. Echelon is allegedly capable of listening in
on nothing short of three million phone conversations, telefaxes and
e-mails every minute.
The fact that the Red Cross has been singled out as a target for the spies
is evident in new documents unearthed by Ekstra Bladet up from the
hideaways of American military services.
TERRORISTS AND DICTATORS
The revealing documents come from an internal briefing session about new
objectives for "Our Changing World". They involve a series of 25 slides
which were used for a lecture during a conference held in 1999 by the US
military’s Air Force Intelligence Agency.
The conference was held for representatives from the US computer and
defense industries that deliver equipment to the electronic spies. The
lecture was given by an unnamed officer from the 544th Intelligence Group
of the Air Force Intelligence Agency.
This same intelligence group is directly connected with Echelon in
official US documents.
SPIES ON A FISHING HOLIDAY
The tenth slide depicts an angler - who represents the intelligence
service. The fisherman has a large net for catching fish – the bugged
subjects. The next slide shows the monitored messages being forwarded to
the ‘customers’, i.e. the military services, who get their intelligence
information from the 544th Intelligence Group via Echelon.
Slide 18 shows some of the ‘fish’ caught by Echelon. Saddam Hussein,
Milosevic, Osama Bin Laden, terrorists and hostile dictators. The words
"Check 12!" are written at the bottom of the slide. This is Air Force
slang for "look forward!". By looking forward in the slide series, you
come to the revealing picture, slide 19.
Slide 19 shows some of the "new fish" the spies are trying to catch –
hackers, disgruntled employees, NGO’s and the Red Cross.
"Friend or foe?" is the slide’s rhetorical question.
The 544th Intelligence Group spells it out on the slide:"Our world is
changing. There are a lot of fish in a lot of unfamiliar ponds. They are
mobile, diverse and technology has made them advanced."
THE ECHELON CONNECTION
The slide show was made to demonstrate to the American industrial
representatives what the everyday work of the 544th Intelligence Group is
all about and why the Group must constantly be on the lookout for
potential new enemies and surveillance targets. This same 544th
Intelligence Group is part of the Echelon network, which is specified in
the Group’s instructions from 1991 stating that they shall "maintain and
operate an ECHELON service".
In 1994, the Echelon-related assignments of the 544th Intelligence Group
were additionally expanded. This is stated in the services’ own 1995
yearbook in the chapter entitled "Activation of Echelon Units". To put it
briefly, the 544th Intelligence Group is one of many special units behind
Echelon’s operations.
Moreover, the 544th Intelligence Group has singled out the Red Cross - and
all kinds of other relief organizations and humanitarian associations - as
possible foes of the USA’s intelligence service.
DOCUMENTATION
544 Intelligence Group assigned to "maintain and operate an ECHELON site".
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB23/09-01.htm
(Link leads to the National Security Archive in Washington.)
ACTIVATION OF ECHELON UNITS.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB23/12-01.htm
(Link leads to the National Security Archive in Washington.)
'Our changing world'. Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Osama Bin Laden. Targets
of Echelon in a 'changing world'.
http://www.aia.af.mil/homepages/cc/inddays/544_indu/sld018.htm
(Link leads to Airforce Intelligence Agencys website at www.aia.af.mil.)
'Our changing world'. Red Cross singled out as possible target for
surveillance.
http://www.aia.af.mil/homepages/cc/inddays/544_indu/sld019.htm
(Link leads to Airforce Intelligence Agencys website at www.aia.af.mil.)
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