cia-nsa-scs.htm   + Secret CIA/NSA Crypto Crack/Black Job Teams      February 28, 2000
barr-nsa.htm      + Rep. Barr Letter to NSA on Privacy               February 28, 2000
echelon-adpe.htm  + Echelon Automatic Data Processing Equipment      February 27, 2000
nsa-bot-spy.htm   + The NSA Bot Now Spying?                          February 26, 2000
echelon-p377.htm  + Echelon: P377 Work Package for CARBOY II         February 26, 2000

echelon-mndc.htm  + Margaret Newsham: First Source on Echelon        February 25, 2000
s2089.txt         + Counterintelligence Reform Act of 2000           February 25, 2000
s2092.txt         + Wiretap/High Tech Crime Bill                     February 25, 2000
s2100.txt         + College Fire Prevention Act (.edu alarm!)        February 25, 2000
s2105.txt         + Anti-tampering Act of 2000                       February 25, 2000

O f f s i t e  ( M o r e )
            

SES                 TEMPEST, Infosec, EMC Training /BF               February 28, 2000
echres              Echelon Research Resource /PP                    February 28, 2000
FYF                 Echelon: Snooping on Friends? /DN                February 26, 2000
NSA Msg             NSA Letter to Members of Congress /SA            February 25, 2000

"In the United States, the NSA and the CIA have created a common agency, named Special Collection Service (SCS), whose activities are highly secret and whose role is to give to Americans, in all clandestinity, information on new means to overcome the difficulties encountered by interception operations caused by progress in encryption for protection of world communications. The existence of the SCS is not officially recognized. It is known only that this new federal agency brings together CIA and NSA teams expert in decrypting of transmissions especially protected against any intrusion which comes from the outside."

-- Le Monde, A Secret Alliance Between the CIA and the NSA, February 23, 2000

"Your letter points out how little legislative authority backs the National Security Agency's activities.  At numerous points in your attached fact sheets, you make reference to Executive Orders regulating and authorizing NSA activities.  As you know, an Executive Order can be rewritten or revoked on a moment's notice, whereas legislative restrictions are more permanent.  As past NSA abuses have shown, privacy rights are better protected by relying on an evolving, explicit legal structure than by counting solely on the good faith of government employees wielding massive power and reciting generalities. In light of these facts, I would ask the NSA to join our efforts to meaningfully and objectively review the effectiveness of existing law and regulation at protecting the privacy rights of Americans both now and in the future.  Such a comprehensive review would build far more public confidence in your agency and its vital mission than simply offering pat assurances that the privacy rights of Americans are being protected in surveillance activities."

-- Rep. Bob Barr, Letter to NSA on Privacy, February 28, 2000

"The Echelon computer system commonality of automated data processing equipment (ADPE) in the Echelon system."

-- Echelon Automatic Data Processing Equipment, February 27, 2000

"Covert surfing by military and government officials, is, to Cryptome, spying. Covert military and government spying, by any country, is a no-no to us, and we'd feel a lot less threatened if mil/gov visitors used machines with true addresses when they come here for official work. Just skip covert, thank you very much, that kind of stuff has really got the world in trouble, especially when done at home. Coming here to escape duty and the rat race, why use any cloaking address you like. We think anonymous killing time is a great contribution to civilized life. But one of the greatest threats to civilization are covert military and government snooping on citizens of any country, but especially their home country. Use an honest machine and earn trust. Come on back, ncsc.mil, openly: don't spy on Americans, that's illegal, we're told, and told, and told."

-- Cryptome, The NSA Bot Now Spying?, February 26, 2000

"Project 377 appears to be CARBOY II and is a processing system for intercepted wideband civil communications from which fax and telegraph signals are extracted; the latter can be either TDM or FDM. It is based on a cluster of DEX VAX 11-780 mini-computers and special purpose hardware. It is, therefore, most probably a component of Echelon and would be directed at western rather than eastern communications."

-- Echelon: P377 Work Package for CARBOY II, February 26, 2000

"Amid a heady controversy in Europe over alleged American espionage, a former CIA director says the U.S. government has used intelligence gathered on European companies to help U.S. companies win deals overseas. But former CIA Director James Woolsey and a current U.S. official say such information probably was used only in certain instances — to counter European attempts to win major contracts using bribes."

-- David Ruppe, Snooping On Friends?, February 25, 2000 (offsite)

"Recently, many allegations have surfaced about activities conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA). We anticipate a continuation, if not an increase, in these allegations for the foreseeable future. In fact, a 27 February 2000 airing of a CBS "60 Minutes" newsmagazine report may feature adverse information about the National Security Agency (NSA). We are providing the attached documents on the oversight of NSA and some answers to frequently asked questions in an effort to answer some of your questions concerning the allegations.

We want to assure you that NSA's activities are conducted in accordance with the highest constitutional, legal, and ethical standards, and in compliance with statutes and regulations designed to protect the privacy rights of U.S. persons. Agency employees are trained to comply with these standards, and an extensive oversight system that includes internal and external reviews exists to ensure compliance.

As is the long-standing policy within the United States Intelligence Community, we must refrain from commenting on actual or alleged intelligence activities; therefore, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of specific operations. However, we can tell you that NSA operates in strict accordance with U.S. laws and regulations in protecting the privacy rights of U.S. persons."

-- National Security Agency, Letter to Members of Congress, February 24, 2000 (offsite)

"In the circumstances of the extensive worldwide political and media attention that is currently focussed on the Echelon communications surveillance network, I wish to pay tribute to the person who first alerted the United States legislature and the world to the existence of Echelon.

Following the presentation of my report on Echelon and related Sigint systems to the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this week, my principal original source has said that she may be identified.

I published the first-ever report about Echelon in the British political weekly New Statesman on 12 August 1988. The information about Echelon in that report came principally from Margaret Newsham, a computer systems manager who is now in retirement.

Margaret Newsham, better known as Peg, was formerly employed by a contractor at the National Security Agency Field Station at Menwith Hill, Yorkshire, England.

While working at Menwith Hill, she witnessed the interception of a telephone call made by US Senator Strom Thurmond. Although this incident was reported to the House Committee, no substantive investigation took place, and no report was made to Congress.

The incident involving Senator Thurmond was first reported by Keith C Epstein and John S Long in the Ohio Plain Dealer in July 1988. I reported the existence and expansion of the Echelon network in the New Statesman one month later. Neither the media nor the Congress took the matter further. There were no Washington Post, New York Times or Sixty Minutes reports. Now – finally – 12 years late, CBS has invited her to repeat the information we first published in 1988 on their programme Sixty Minutes, to be shown on Sunday evening, 27 February."

-- Duncan Campbell, Making history: the original source for the 1988 first Echelon report steps forward, February 25, 2000

Cryptome Out

Archives

| Echelon |     MI6     | TEMPEST | DVD-DeCSS |     GSM     |    PGP     |