GCHQ worker held after
leak
Release of memo reflects deep unease in Whitehall
Jeevan Vasagar and Richard
Norton-Taylor
Monday March 10, 2003
The
Guardian
An employee at GCHQ, the government's electronic eavesdropping centre,
has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act after the Observer
published an article based on a leaked US intelligence memo.
The Observer reported last week that the US is intercepting telephone
calls and emails of foreign delegates to the UN security council.
The front-page article was based on a memo written by a senior official
at the National Security Agency (NSA), the US equivalent of GCHQ, which
advised that the US wanted information on "policies",
"negotiating positions" and "alliances" of security
council members.
The Observer said yesterday that the memo had been leaked to it "by
British security sources who objected to being asked to aid the American
operation".
A 28-year-old woman employee at GCHQ was arrested last week by
Gloucestershire police and released on bail.
A GCHQ spokesman declined to give further details and would not confirm
the arrest was linked to the Observer article.
The leak of the memo reflects deep unease throughout Whitehall, including
the security and intelligence services, about the Bush administration's
conduct in the growing Iraq crisis.
It is severely embarrassing to GCHQ and to Tony Blair at a time of
widespread doubts about the morality of an invasion of Iraq.
If GCHQ acted on the memo - by eavesdropping on targets simply to
strengthen the US and British governments' negotiating position in the
UN, on an issue itself disputed on legal grounds - it could be found in
breach of the 1994 Intelligence Services Act.
Grave doubts about the morality of their instructions were expressed
privately by GCHQ officials during the 1956 Suez crisis, when they were
asked to provide intelligence for an invasion of Egypt, whose highly
questionable morality was compounded by secret collusion with Israel.
The memo has reignited suspicions among countries (notably France) which
have accused London and Washington of abusing their close intelligence
relationship.
It says that surveillance operations should be stepped up on UN security
council members "minus US and GBR [Britain] of course".
It is believed the memo was sent out via Echelon, an international
surveillance system set up by the NSA.
France and other European countries have long claimed that the system,
which links the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is a
privileged Anglo-Saxon club which has been put to improper use.
The British government has always vigorously denied this, insisting it is
only used to monitor genuine threats to national security, hostile
powers, and to help fight terrorism.
The memo, sent in January by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the
"regional targets" section of the NSA, says the agency is
"mounting a surge" aimed at how delegations on the security
council will vote. It is investigating the whole "gamut of
information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results
favourable to US goals or to head off surprises".
It makes it clear that home telephones of UN delegates should be tapped.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,911099,00.html
