The wonderful world of spying friends and foes is being unfolded with the NSA scandal, a world equipped with super modern surveillance units and lay light years away from the fictitious and exaggerated reports of Graham Greens’ local informants and spies.
The NSA scandal reveals that US-friends have not only bugged their foes but also their friends and allies, like the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. I’m not going to criticize about the neglectfulness of the German secret services that had allowed Merkel to speak from an insecure line. Unless it was Merkel’s very private mobile phone where she would chat with an arthritis-sick aunt or exchange sausage-recipe tips with a cousin. But that would be of not interest for the US National Security Agency. Or would it?
Anyway, the German are more than just offended from the whole issue, they feel betrayed by their American friends and local journalists are keen and determined to reveal every single detail that will expose the great worldwide.addfavoritecountry.nsa spying network. Attention here: the URL does not exist, I believe…
German weekly DER SPIEGEL acquired and published a document explaining in full detail all the technological finesses of the ultramodern spying, wiretapping, surveillance and interception of communications world. The document was leaked by former employee at U.S. intelligence services Edward Snowden .
The document explains how the NSA managed to collect information from phone calls and electronic emails and possible sms via super modern surveillance units installed on the roofs of US embassies in more than 50 countries.
“The surveillance equipment is placed on the upper floors or the roof of the embassy, covered with panels or structures to protect from prying eyes and it can be operated remotely without requiring the presence of personnel,” notes DER SPIEGEL.
According to a top-secret map from August 2010 published on Der Spiegel’s website but later censored, a joint Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA) group known as the Special Collection Service allegedly operated 90 surveillance facilities worldwide, including at the US Embassy in Athens.
The report also suggested that US diplomatic premises in most European capitals hosted special collection facilities including the embassies in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Prague, Geneva and Vienna, as well as Moscow and Kiev.
According to daily TA NEA, “the alleged surveillance equipment constructed of white construction material has been located on the roof of the US embassy on Vasilissis Sofias and is being reportedly operated remotely.” On its cover story TA NEA published also picture from the alleged super bug on top of the US embassy in Athens.
TA NEA via zougla.gr
The picture looks like via google maps, no?
Ex Foreign Minister Pangalos: We tapped US ambassadors in Athens and Ankara
In a related development, former PASOK Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, told Vima fm on Tuesday morning that the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) was systematically tapped into telephone calls at the US embassies in Greece AND in Turkey.
“EYP had succeeded in surveying not just the American ambassador in Athens but also the American ambassador in Ankara,” Pangalos claimed referring to the time (1996-1999) he served as Foreign Minister
“EYP did surveillance with equipment and copied on tapes the two embassies [of US] in Ankara and Athens,” Pangalos sai, adding that he was receiving information that it was of interest for him as Foreign Minister.
“I did not learn something important, because I knew all important things. Just sometimes it was very fun to hear the U.S. Ambassador telling his counterpart or someone from the State Department “what is this motherfucker Pangalos doing?”. And the other answering “this motherfucker called me today” and so on. Friendly people … And I was talking respectively with my colleagues about some Americans, when I knew and thought that no one was listening to me.” (Vimafm)
So far Greek Foreign Ministry refrained from commenting neither to alleged surveillance equipment on US embassy roof nor to Pangalos’ statements.
I wonder what the US state departments would say on this or the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
However, we should keep in mind that that states spy on each other is nothing new and no government can claim, it doesn’t know who and how. It’s also nothing new that intelligence officers register as diplomatic personnel, as DER SPIEGEL reveals, while the intelligence of the country where they register know it. It’s part of the mutual game with lots of unwritten laws and also lots of red lines.
Greek wiretapping scandal 0f 2004- 2005
It’s not the first time of Greece being the target of intelligence surveillance. The Greek wiretapping scandal of 2004-2005 that involved the illegal tapping of more than 100 mobile phones of members of the Greek government. The investigation was stuck, while the network manager of the mobile company involved fund a mysterious death.
The Greek wiretapping case of 2004-2005, also referred to as Greek Watergate, involved the illegal tapping of more than 100 mobile phones on the Vodafone Greece network belonging mostly to members of the Greek government and top-ranking civil servants. The taps began sometime near the beginning of August 2004 and were removed in March 2005 without discovering the identity of the perpetrators.
The phones tapped included those of the Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and members of his family, the Mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis, most phones of the top officers at the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Public Order, members of the ruling party, ranking members of then opposition party (PASOK), the Hellenic Navy General Staff, the previous Minister of Defense and one phone of a locally hired Greek American employee of the American Embassy.
Foreign and Greek media have raised United States intelligence agencies as the main suspects. However, the identity of the perpetrators was never conclusively established, in large part due to the botched manner in which the investigation was handled, initially by Vodafone and then by the Greek authorities.
On March 9, the Network Planning Manager for Vodafone Greece, Kostas Tsalikidis, was found dead in an apparent suicide. According to several experts questioned by the Greek press, Tsalikidis was a key witness in the investigation of responsibility of the wiretaps. Family and friends believe there are strong indications he was the person who first discovered that highly sophisticated software had been secretly inserted into the Vodafone network. (Full story here)
If the modern intelligence scandal is too complicated for you I strongly advice you to read one of my favorites spying novels, Graham Green’s gorgeous black comedy Our Man in Havana. 🙂
PS fff… test…. hello?…fff….test…. NSA?…fff…are you there?…. test…test… 1…2…2… test…
