U.S. bugged EU offices, computer networks in Europe - Спецслужбы США прослушивают Евросоюз
Sat, Jun 29 2013
BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States has bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, according to secret documents cited in a German magazine on Saturday, the latest in a series of exposures of alleged U.S. spy programs.
Der Spiegel quoted from a September 2010 "top secret" U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) document that it said fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had taken with him, and the weekly's journalists had seen in part.
The document outlines how the NSA bugged offices and spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the United Nations, not only listening to conversations and phone calls but also gaining access to documents and emails.
The document explicitly called the EU a "target".
A spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the Der Spiegel story.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said that if the report was correct, it would have a "severe impact" on relations between the EU and the United States.
"On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the U.S. authorities with regard to these allegations," he said in an emailed statement.
Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel: "If these reports are true, it's disgusting.
"The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies. We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately."
Snowden's disclosures in foreign media about U.S. surveillance programs have ignited a political furor in the United States and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and national security.
According to Der Spiegel, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council, the collective of EU national governments.
Without citing sources, the magazine reported that more than five years ago security officers at the EU had noticed several missed calls and traced them to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels.
Each EU member state has rooms in Justus Lipsius with phone and internet connections, which ministers can use.
Snowden, a U.S. citizen, fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before the publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. government surveillance of internet and phone traffic.
Snowden, 30, has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area since last weekend. The leftist government of Ecuador is reviewing his request for asylum.
(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt and Ben Deighton in Brussels; Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Eric Beech)
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Спецслужбы США прослушивали телефонные переговоры, которые проходили в представительствах органов Евросоюза в Вашингтоне, в Нью-Йорке и Брюсселе, передает в воскресенье агентство Reuters.
Журналистам немецкого журнала Der Spiegel удалось увидеть часть справки Агентства национальной безопасности (АНБ), которая датируется 2010 годом и которую выкрал бывший сотрудник спецслужбы Эдвард Сноуден. Согласно документу, сотрудники АНБ устанавливали прослушивающие «жучки» в кабинетах, которые занимали европейские чиновники в Вашингтоне и в штаб-квартире ООН. Американцы также имели доступ к электронной почте и документам европейцев.
Кроме того, прослушка и перлюстрация велись в здании имени Юста Липсия в Брюсселе, где располагается Совет Европейского союза. Не указывая источника, журналисты Der Spiegel пишут, что в 2008 году службы безопасности ЕС проследили несколько пропущенных звонков до представительства АНБ в брюссельской штаб-квартире НАТО.
Глава Европарламента Мартин Шульц, комментируя публикацию, заявил, что, если эти факты подтвердятся, то они окажут серьезное влияние на отношения ЕС и США. «От имени Европарламента я требую скорейших полных разъяснений и дальнейшей информации относительно этих обвинений», - подчеркнул Шульц в заявлении, поступившем по электронной почте. В свою очередь министр иностранных дел Люксембурга Жан Ассельборн сообщил, что, если обвинения верны, то это «отвратительно». «Лучше бы США следили за своими спецслужбами, а не за союзниками», - добавил дипломат.
Напомним, бывший сотрудник ЦРУ и АНБ Эдвард Сноуден передал британской и американской прессе секретные документы, в которых, в частности, рассказывалось о масштабной программе слежки за телефонными переговорами и интернет-активностью американских граждан. Американец предположительно остается в транзитной зоне московского аэропорта «Шереметьево» - его американский паспорт аннулирован, поэтому он не может ни пересечь российскую границу, ни сесть на какой-либо самолет.
Прошение Сноудена о политическом убежище рассматривают власти Эквадора. В ходе телефонных переговоров президента Эквадора Рафаэля Корреа и вице-президента США Джозефа Байдена последний призвал эквадорскую сторону не принимать бывшего сотрудника спецслужб, так как в США ему заочно предъявлены обвинения в разглашении секретной информации, шпионаже и хищении государственной собственности. Корреа заверил Байдена, что прислушается ко мнению Вашингтона, однако решение будет принято, только если Сноуден окажется на территории Эквадора.
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US taps half-billion German phone, internet links in month-report
BERLIN, June 30 (Reuters) - The United States taps half a billion phone calls, emails and text messages in Germany in a typical month and has classed its biggest European ally as a target similar to China, according to secret U.S. documents quoted by a German newsmagazine.
The revelations of alleged U.S. surveillance programmes based on documents taken by fugitive former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden have raised a political furore in the United States and abroad over the balance between privacy rights and national security.
Exposing the latest details in a string of reputed spying programmes, Der Spiegel quoted from an internal NSA document which it said its reporters had seen.
The document Spiegel cited showed that the United States categorised Germany as a "third-class" partner and that surveillance there was stronger than in any other EU country, similar in extent to China, Iraq or Saudi-Arabia.
"We can attack the signals of most foreign third-class partners, and we do it too," Der Spiegel quoted a passage in the NSA document as saying.
It said the document showed that the NSA monitored phone calls, text messages, emails and internet chat contributions and has saved the metadata - that is, the connections, not the content - at its headquarters.
On an average day, the NSA monitored about 20 million German phone connections and 10 million internet data sets, rising to 60 million phone connections on busy days, the report said.
While it had been known from disclosures by Snowden that the United States tapped data in Germany, the extent was previously unclear.
News of the U.S. cyber-espionage programme Prism and the British equivalent Tempora have outraged Germans, who are highly sensitive to government monitoring having lived through the Stasi secret police in the former communist East Germany and with lingering memories of the Gestapo of Hitler's Nazi regime.
A Spiegel report on Saturday that the NSA had spied on European Union offices caused outrage among EU policymakers, with some even calling for a suspension to talks for a free trade agreement between Washington and the EU.
In France, Der Spiegel reported, the United States taps about 2 million connection data a day. Only Canada, Australia, Britain and New Zealand were explicitly exempted from spy attacks.
Snowden, a U.S. citizen, fled the United States to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before the publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. government surveillance of internet and phone traffic.
He has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area for a week after U.S. authorities revoked his passport. The leftist government of Ecuador is reviewing his request for asylum. (Reporting by Annika Breidthardt; Editing by Mark Heinrich)