Lawmakers Raise Questions About International Spy Network
By Niall McKay
New York Times, May 27, 1999
An international surveillance network established by the
National Security Agency and British intelligence services
has come under scrutiny in recent weeks, as lawmakers in the
United States question whether the network, known as
Echelon, could be used to monitor American citizens.
Last week, the House Committee on Intelligence requested
that the National Security Agency and the Central
Intelligence Agency provide a detailed report to Congress
explaining what legal standards they use to monitor the
conversations, transmissions and activities of American
citizens.
The request is part of an amendment to the annual
intelligence budget bill, the Intelligence Reauthorization
Act. It was proposed by Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican and
was supported by the chairman of the House Intelligence
Committee, Porter Goss, a Florida Republican. The amendment
was passed by the House on May 13 and will now go before the
Senate.
Barr, a former CIA analyst, is part of a growing contingent
in the United States, Europe and Australia alarmed by the
existence of Echelon, a computer system that monitors
millions of e-mail, fax, telex and phone messages sent over
satellite-based communications systems as well as
terrestrial-based data communications. The system was
established under what is known as the "UKUSA Agreement"
after World War II and includes the security agencies of the
United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Although Echelon was originally set up as an international
spy network, lawmakers are concerned that it could be used
to eavesdrop on American citizens.
"I am concerned there are not sufficient legal mechanisms in
place to protect our private information from unauthorized
government eavesdropping through such mechanisms as Project
Echelon," Barr said in an interview on Tuesday.
The finished report will outline the legal bases and other
criteria used by United States intelligence agencies when
assessing potential wiretap targets. It will be submitted to
the House and made available to the public.
"If the agencies feel unable to provide a full account to
the public, then a second classified report will be provided
to the House Committee on Intelligence," Barr said. "This is
to stop the agencies hiding behind a cloak of secrecy."
Judith Emmel, chief of public affairs for the NSA, declined
to comment about the UKUSA Agreement but said the agency was
committed to responding to all information requests covered
by Barr's amendment. "The NSA's Office of General Counsel
works hard to ensure that all Agency activities are
conducted in accordance with the highest constitutional,
legal and ethical standards," she said.
Until last Sunday, no government or intelligence agency from
the member states had openly admitted to the existence of
the UKUSA Agreement or Echelon. However, on a television
program broadcast on Sunday in Australia, the director of
Australia's Defence Signals Directorate acknowledged the
existence of the agreement. The official, Martin Brady,
declined to be interviewed for the "Sunday Program," but
provided a statement for its special on Echelon. "DSD does
cooperate with counterpart signals intelligence
organizations overseas under the UKUSA relationship," the
statement said.
Meanwhile, European Parliament officials have also expressed
concern about the use of Echelon to gather economic
intelligence for participating nations. Last October, the
spying system came to the attention of the Parliament during
a debate on Europe's intelligence relationship with the
United States. At that time, the Parliament decided it
needed more information about Echelon and asked its Science
and Technology Options Assessment Panel to commission a
report.
The report, entitled "Development of Surveillance Technology
and Risk of Abuse of Economic Information", was published on
May 10 and provides a detailed account of Echelon and other
intelligence monitoring systems.
According to the report, Echelon is just one of the many
code names for the monitoring system, which consists of
satellite interception stations in participating countries.
The stations collectively monitor millions of voice and data
messages each day. These messages are then scanned and
checked against certain key criteria held in a computer
system called the "Dictionary." In the case of voice
communications, the criteria could include a suspected
criminal's telephone number; with respect to data
communications, the messages might be scanned for certain
keywords, like "bomb" or "drugs." The report also alleges
that Echelon is capable of monitoring terrestrial Internet
traffic through interception nodes placed on deep-sea
communications cables.
While few dispute the necessity of a system like Echelon to
apprehend foreign spies, drug traffickers and terrorists,
many are concerned that the system could be abused to
collect economic and political information.
"The recent revelations about China's spying activities in
the U.S. demonstrates that there is a clear need for
electronic monitoring capabilities," said Patrick Poole, a
lecturer in government and economics at Bannock Burn College
in Franklin, Tenn., who compiled a report on Echelon for the
Free Congress Foundation. "But those capabilities can be
abused for political or economic purposes so we need to
ensure that there is some sort of legislative control over
these systems."
On the "Sunday Program" special on Echelon, Mike Frost, a
former employee of Canada's Communications Security
Establishment, said that Britain's intelligence agency
requested that the CSE monitor the communications of British
government officials in the late 1980s. Under British law,
the intelligence agency is prohibited from monitoring its
own government. Frost also said that since the cold war is
over, the "the focus now is towards economic intelligence."
Still, Echelon has been shrouded in such secrecy that its
very existence has been difficult to prove. Barr's amendment
aims to change that.
"If this report reveals that information about American
citizens is being collected without legal authorization, the
intelligence community will have some serious explaining to
do," Barr said.