Printed in Ekstra Bladet 4. march. 2000
KEY TO THE WHOLE WORLD
She held the key to the whole world's communication. And her accusation is
quite severe: "We violated every citizen's right to privacy when we
designed Echelon"
After Ekstra Bladet published Margaret Newsham's shocking exposures of
Echelon, both the Danish parliament and the European parliament have
debated the global surveillance issue. But nothing has happened. In this
article, Ekstra Bladet presents new documents and facts about Newsham's
term as an Echelon spy.
The European Commission said that Echelon is nothing but 'rumors'.
At least Denmark's Minister of Defense Hans Hækkerup admitted that this
kind of system very probably exists. He does not intend to doing anything
about it though.
Most recently, Denmark's Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
stated in a reply to member of parliament Keld Albrechtsen that Rasmussen
'had no grounds to consider the existence of this kind of system.'
This does not necessarily mean that he believes Echelon exists.
But it does not necessarily mean that he believes Echelon does not exist
either. It only means that Poul Nyrup Rasmussen will not consider the
issue.
All right.
We at Ekstra Bladet won't let it go at that. We are willing to
help Denmark's elected representatives get enough information so that they
can make up their minds. So we have obtained additional documentation.
Including new documentation that strengthens the credibility of the best
eye witness so far of Echelon's outrageousness, Margaret Newsham.
LICENSE FOR ALL SPIES
>From 1974 to 1984, Margaret Newsham worked for various arms suppliers that
also make equipment for intelligence computers and satellites: Digital
Equipment, Ford Aerospace, Digital Science, Hughes Aircraft and, the
largest of them all, Lockheed Martin (the company from which Hækkerup also
intends to buy new Hercules planes).
"We monitored ordinary people, interest groups, companies and the like. To
target specific subjects all you had to do was code them into the computer
and write 'Amnesty International' or 'Margaret Newsham' for example. Then
we could monitor the subject in question - as they were communicating,
mind you," she tells Ekstra Bladet.
IN THE HEART OF ECHELON
Ekstra Bladet has decided - with Newsham's consent - to print various
documents that prove she was at the very core of the NSA. We are now
publishing one of this former top spy's security authorizations, among
other things.
"At one point, I was asked whether I wanted to work in the databank. 'Oh
yes, sure', I replied. It sounded interesting. So I was eventually
standing in a room where I had access to all data from all the clandestine
services. The CIA, NSA, the army, navy, air force, the whole lot of them.
To enter, you walked through a large bank-vault door that a special
security guard had to open."
We have also decided to publish Newsham's proof that she attended
the NSA's spy school where completed a security training program in the
top-secret code language used to operate 'Project 415' among others.
Program 415 was later given the code name Echelon.
Her training certificate is signed by B.R. Inman, who was a
director at the NSA in 1980.
Ekstra Bladet has seen the original documents shown here on this
page and has also seen Margaret Newsham's transfer orders when she was
sent to Menwith Hill, which according to the NSA is the largest
surveillance facility in the world-wide surveillance system.
"As Crypto custodian I had daily access for a while to the codes
used at all bases all over the world. You might say I was holding the key
to the whole world," says Margaret Newsham, who still hesitates to reveal
everything to Ekstra Bladet out of fear for retaliation.
She was still willing to reveal some of the more bizarre security
details at the secret spy factories and bases which construct and operate
the global surveillance system.
"Every day at a specific time, all the NSA's surveillance stations
around the world were required to change their codes simultaneously. We
did so by taking an encryption card containing the new codes and inserting
it in a small box at the same time as all the other stations. After making
the change, we had the 'old' card which had to be destroyed. For this
step, the NSA had introduced a very unique security procedure that
departed from the other authorized routines. Normally, everything was
supposed to be destroyed in a so-called 'burn bag'. Our new instructions
stated that three employees should all participate in the destruction
process. We were supposed to fill a blender with water, put the card in
the blender and turn it on."
An ordinary kitchen blender?
"Yes! After the card had been turned into a pulpy paste, we were
supposed to take the container out to the toilet. There we stood, three
persons, day in and day out flushing the old codes down the toilet.
Lastly, we all three had to sign a statement saying that we had witnessed
the destruction."
Margaret Newsham laughs at the thought of the primitive security
procedure used for the highly sophisticated program she had helped to
develop. But then she gets serious again.
"One thing I have thought about since then is our testing
procedure. It was beneath contempt."
In what way?
"We simply used live data to test the systems' function."
Does that mean that you used intercepted communication directly
for testing?
"Yes."
That wasn't very ethical was it?
"I wouldn't disagree with you there. It was highly unacceptable."
EXTRA FACTS:
Ekstra Bladet is also in possession of Newsham's 'work review statement'
dated 23 June 1983. This paper documents that Newsham had the following
job assignments, among many others:
'Organize, plan, develop, supervise. Retrieve source files, declare new
releases and maintain library documentation of all software. Interface
with all programmers who are delivering software to SCCS (Software
Configuration Controls. Ed.) tools.
Act as backup for computer operator in his absence. Instruct new
users on computer procedures.
Control and maintain history copy of all tapes and discs,
classified and unclassified for P-285 (Project 285 was part of the program
that later would be code named Echelon by the NSA - ed.)'
She was also assigned to 'interface w/ security and document
control' and was principally responsible for the 'Software Discrepancy
Report and tracking system, for writing the SDR program and for using
Datatrieve to maintain files. These program systems are all part of
Echelon's advanced capability of searching for specific words and concepts
and afterwards sorting and forwarding them. By and large all intelligence
was sent to the NSA's headquarters in Fort G. Meade, Maryland, USA.
Newsham's 'work review statement' goes on to state that she was
responsible for the operations on the VAX 11/780 computer systems. Project
Echelon was developed on these very computers. She was also 'Operations
Manager'. Her supervisor, D.L. Fish, strongly praises her contribution and
concludes the following: 'Peg (Margaret Newsham - ed.) has demonstrated a
keen interest in making the program a success'.
Many multinational companies had special military contracts with
the NSA, CIA and NASA: Ford Aerospace, Lockheed-Martin, Motorola, Signal
Science, Hughes Aircraft, Digital Equipment Corporation, Boeing, IBM and
Raytheon. Newsham and her colleagues - who worked in private companies for
the various branches of the US army, navy and air force - developed things
like the Hubble space telescope, the Stealth bomber, the Challenger space
shuttle, the Echelon surveillance program for the NSA, and a similar
surveillance program for the CIA, code named P-285.
[caption]
The courageous ex-spy Margaret Newsham, who felt remorse when she
discovered that Echelon violated basic human rights.
By Bo Elkjaer and Kenan Seeberg, Ekstra Bladet, Denmark
>>Bevar naturen: Sylt et egern.<<
>>URL: http://www.datashopper.dk/~boo/index.html<<
>>ECHELON URL:<<
>>http://www1.ekstrabladet.dk/netdetect/echelon.iasp<<
