IP: nsa

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>
>Spying on the Spies
>                      by Niall McKay 
>WIRED                     12:15 p.m.  10.May.99.PDT
>                      The National Security Agency has its ear to the world,
>but                     doesn't listen to everyone at once. 
>
>                      That was one conclusion of a new report, Interception
>                      Capabilities 2000, accepted late last week by the
>                      European Parliament's Science and Technology Options
>                      Assessment Panel (STOA). 
>
>                      The panel commissioned Duncan Campbell, a British
>                      investigative reporter, to prepare a report on
>Echelon, the                     US-led satellite surveillance network. 
>
>                      "I have no objection to these systems monitoring
>serious         criminals and terrorists," said Glyn Ford, a British Labour
>                      Party member of parliament and a committee member of
>                      STOA. "But what is missing here is accountability,
>clear         guidelines as to who they can listen to, and in what
>                      circumstances these laws apply." 
>
>                      Campbell was asked to investigate the system in the
>                      wake of charges made last year in the European
>                      Parliament that Echelon was being used to funnel
>                      European government and industry secrets into US
>                      hands. 
>
>                      "What is new and important about this report is that it
>                      contains the first ever documentary evidence of the
>                      Echelon system," said Campbell. Campbell obtained the
>                      document from a source at Menwith Hill, the principal
>NSA                  communications monitoring station, located near
>                      Harrogate in northern England. 
>
>                      The report details how intelligence agencies intercept
>                      Internet traffic and digital communications, and
>includes     screen shots of traffic analysis from NSA computer
>                      systems. 
>
>                      Interception Capabilities 2000 also provides an
>account of              a previously unknown, secret international
>organization
>                      led by the FBI. According to Campbell, the "secret"
>                      organization, called ILETS (International Law
>Enforcement           Telecommunications Seminar), is working on building
>                      backdoor wiretap capabilities into all forms of modern
>                      communications, including satellite communications
>                      systems. 
>
>                      "[The report] is undoubtedly the most comprehensive
>look          at Echelon to date because of its attention to detail -- [and]
>                      the NSA's use of technology," said John Young, a
>privacy                activist in New York. 
>
>                      Although the United States has never officially
>                      acknowledged Echelon's existence, dozens of
>                      investigative reports over the past decade have
>revealed    a maze-like system that can intercept telephone, data,
>                      cellular, fax, and email transmissions sent anywhere in
>                      the world. 
>
>                      Previously, Echelon computers were thought to be able
>to          scan millions of telephone lines and faxes for keywords
>                      such as "bomb" and "terrorist." But Campbell's report
>                      maintains that the technologies to perform such a
>global           dragnet do not exist. 
>
>                      Instead, Campbell said that the system targets the
>                      communications networks of known diplomats, criminals,
>                      and industrialists of interest to the intelligence
>community. 
>                  The report charges that popular software programs such
>                      as Lotus Notes and Web browsers include a "back door,"
>                      through which the NSA can gain access to an
>individual's                 personal information. 
>
>                      Citing a November 1997 story in the Swedish newspaper,
>                      Svenska Dagbladet, the report said that "Lotus built
>in and            NSA 'help information' trapdoor to its Notes system, as the
>                      Swedish government discovered to its embarrassment." 
>
>                      The report goes on to describe a feature called a
>                      "workfactor reduction field" that is built into Notes
>and        incorporated into all email sent by non-US users of the
>                      system. The feature reportedly broadcasts 24 of the 64
>                      bits of the key used for each communication, and relies
>                      on a public key that can only be read by the NSA. 
>
>                      Lotus could not be reached for comment. 
>
>                      The new report emerges as politicians on both sides of
>                      the Atlantic are growing increasingly concerned about
>                      Echelon and its capabilities. 
>
>                      "I believe that it's time that there is some
>congressional   scrutiny of the Echelon project and I am examining a way
>               to do that," said Representative Bob Barr (R-Georgia). "I
>                 understand the need for secrecy -- I was with the CIA
>                      myself -- but Echelon has raised some questions about
>                      fundamental policy and constitutional rights." 
>
>                      Barr is concerned that the NSA is using its Echelon
>                      partners to help it sidestep laws that forbid the US
>                      government from spying on its own people. 
>
>                      So far, there has been very little scrutiny of spy
>systems   in the United States, according to Patrick Poole, a privacy
>                      advocate and lecturer in government and economics at
>                      Bannock Burn College in Franklin, Tennessee. 
>
>                      "The only significant examination of spy systems in the
>                      United States was the Church Report, which was
>                      prompted by Watergate in the early '70s," said Poole.
>"I                   hope that Europe's interest in the Echelon system will
>                      spark some new debate in the US." 
>
>                      Echelon is believed to be principally operated by the
>NSA                 and its British counterpart, the Government
>                      Communications Headquarters. The system also
>                      reportedly relies on agreements with similar agencies
>in                 other countries, including Canada's Communications
>                      Security Establishment, Australia's Defense Signals
>                      Directorate, and New Zealand's Government
>                      Communications Security Bureau.