The European Parliament demands that Washington gives explanations on the allegations that the US spied on the European Union, while the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz, has expressed his outrage.
Earlier, Germany’s top justice official said reports that U.S. intelligence bugged European Union offices remind her of “the methods used by enemies during the Cold War.”
Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger was responding to a report by German news weekly Der Spiegel on Sunday that claimed the National Security Agency has eavesdropped on EU offices in Washington, New York and Brussels.
The magazine cited classified U.S. documents taken by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that it said it had partly seen.
The documents reportedly describe the European Union as a “target” for surveillance.
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said it was “beyond comprehension that our friends in the United States see Europeans as enemies.”
She called for an “immediate and comprehensive” response from the U.S. government to the claims.
German federal prosecutors said they were examining whether the reported U.S. electronic surveillance programs broke German laws. In a statement, the Federal Prosecutors’ Office said it was probing the claims so as to “achieve a reliable factual basis” before considering whether a formal investigation was warranted.
It said private citizens were likely to file criminal complaints on the matter, but didn’t comment on the possible legal merits of such complaints.
According to Der Spiegel Online”, the US placed bugs in the EU representation in Washington and infiltrated its computer network. Cyber attacks were also perpetrated against Brussels in New York and Washington.
The information appears in secret documents obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden that SPIEGEL has in part seen. A “top secret” 2010 document describes how the secret service attacked the EU’s diplomatic representation in Washington.
The document suggests that in addition to installing bugs in the building in downtown Washington, DC, theEuropean Union representation’s computer network was also infiltrated. In this way, the Americans were able to access discussions in EU rooms as well as emails and internal documents on computers.
The documents SPIEGEL has seen indicate that the EU representation to the United Nations was attacked in a manner similar to the way surveillance was conducted against its offices in Washington. An NSA document dated September 2010 explicitly names the Europeans as a “location target”.
The documents also indicate the US intelligence service was responsible for an electronic eavesdropping operation in Brussels. A little over five years ago, EU security experts noticed several telephone calls that were apparently targeting the remote maintenance system in the Justus Lipsius Building, where the EU Council of Ministers and the European Council are located. The calls were made to numbers that were very similar to the one used for the remote administration of the building’s telephone system.
Security officials managed to track the calls to NATO headquarters in the Brussels suburb of Evere. A precise analysis showed that the attacks on the telecommunications system had originated from a building complex separated from the rest of the NATO headquarters that is used by NSA experts.
A review of the remote maintenance system showed that it had been called and reached several times from precisely that NATO complex. Every EU member state has rooms in the Justus Lipsius Building that can be used by EU ministers.
US: spying on allies “a matter of policy”
The latest revelation in the Edward Snowden saga has left many in Europe furious and demanding answers. This weekend Der Spiegel reported that the US National Security Agency has actively targeted the European Union and a number of EU member states.
According to a top secret document from 2010 that was leaked by Snowden, the NSA planted listening devices and hacked the computer and telephone systems of EU offices in Washington and New York. The NSA also reportedly used NATO facilities to eavesdrop on the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the Council of Ministers and the European Council.
European Parliament president Martin Schulz said Sunday that he was “deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of the US authorities spying on EU offices.”
The news has shaken the confidence of many European officials and may have implications for the pending negotiation of an EU-US free trade agreement. The European Commission was granted a negotiating mandate last month and talks are expected to commence soon. The agreement, if reached, would represent the largest free trade agreement in history, accounting for over half of all global trade.
“Partners do not spy on each other. We cannot negotiate over a big trans-Atlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators,” said EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding.
“We have to re-establish immediately confidence on the highest level of the European Union and the United States,” said Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn.
The US government has said that it will respond to member states through bilateral diplomatic channels. A statement released by the office of the US director of national intelligence declined to comment on any specific allegations, but said that “as a matter of policy, we have made it clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations.”
Despite the statements above, others were less surprised by the allegations. Commission official Robert Madelin commented on Twitter that EU trade negotiators always operate under the assumption that they are monitored.
An unnamed senior EU official said to The Guardian, “There’s a certain schadenfreude here that we’re important enough to be spied on. This was bound to come out one day. And I wouldn’t be surprised if some of our member states were not doing the same to the Americans.”
The UK, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain have long-standing agreements with the US to share intelligence information, including communications data. The agreements were signed decades ago, but are now believed to include mobile phone and internet data.
In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation, former Bush administration CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden commented on the outrage being expressed by European officials. “Any European who wants to go out and rent their garments with regard to international espionage should look first and find out what their own governments are doing.”
by :NEOnline
30/06/2013 – 1:55pm
http://www.neurope.eu/article/eu-demands-explanations-washington-spying-allegations
by: Dillon Clancy
01/07/2013 – 12:37pm
http://www.neurope.eu/article/us-spying-allies-%E2%80%9C-matter-policy%E2%80%9D
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