Did EU Scuttle Echelon Debate?

By Niall McKay 

Wired Magazine, Oct 5thm, 1998

The European Parliament has swept aside concerns about alleged 
surveillance and spying activities conducted in the region by the US 
government, a representative for Europe's Green Party said Monday. 
Specifically, the EU allegedly scuttled parliamentary debate late last 
month concerning the Echelon surveillance system. Echelon is a 
near-mythical intelligence network operated in part by the National 
Security Agency. 

"The whole discussion was completely brushed over," Green Party member 
of European Parliament Patricia McKenna said. 

The US government has refused even to acknowledge Echelon's existence. 
But since 1988, investigative journalists and privacy watchdogs have 
uncovered details of a secret, powerful system that can allegedly 
intercept any and all communications within Europe. 

According to scores of reports online and in newspapers, Echelon can 
intercept, record, and translate any electronic communication -- 
telephone, data, cellular, fax, email, telex -- sent anywhere in the 
world. 

The alleged system has only recently come under the scrutiny of the 
European Parliament, which has grown concerned about EU government and 
private sector secrets falling into US hands. 

The debate fizzled mysteriously, said McKenna, who suggested that the 
Parliament is reluctant to probe the matter fully for fear of 
jeopardizing relations between the EU and the United States. 

"Basically they didn't want to rock the boat," she said. 

Furthermore, she said the debate was held two days ahead of schedule, 
hindering preparations for the discussion by European Members of 
Parliament. 

While the NSA has never officially recognized Echelon's existence, it 
has been the subject of heated debates in Europe following a preliminary 
report by the Scientific and Technical Options Assessment, a committee 
advising the parliament on technical matters. 

On 19 September, the Parliament debated both the EU's relationship with 
the United States and the existence and uses of Echelon. 

The Green Party believes the resolution to defer its decision on 
Echelon, pending further investigation, was influenced by pressure from 
the US government, which has tried to keep the system secret. 

Glyn Ford, a member of the European Parliament for the British Labor 
Party and a director of STOA, missed the debate because of the schedule 
change but does not share the Green Party's view. 

"There is not enough information on Echelon, beyond its existence, to 
debate the matter fully," said Ford. 

According to Ford, the Omega Foundation, a British human rights 
organization, compiled the first report on Echelon for the Parliament 
committee. 

"It is very likely that Omega will be commissioned again," Ford said. 
"But this time I believe the EU will require direct input from the NSA." 


Simon Davies, the director of the privacy watchdog group Privacy 
International sees the debate as a major civil rights victory. 

"It's unheard of for a parliament to openly debate national security 
issues," said Davies. "This debate fires a warning shot across the bows 
of the NSA." 

Echelon is said to be principally operated by the National Security 
Agency and its UK equivalent, the Government Communications Headquarters
. It reportedly also relies on cooperation with other intelligence 
agencies in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

"These spy systems were seen as a necessary part of international 
security during the cold war," said Ford. "But there is no military 
reason for spying on Russia now unless they (NSA) want to listen to the 
sound of the proto-capitalist economy collapsing."