Nando Times

Members of a European Parliament committee studying whether the United States engages in economic espionage returned home Thursday angry that U.S. agencies refused to meet with them.

The head of the European delegation, Carlos Coelho, said his group was "concerned and dismayed" by what members considered a snub. U.S. officials, however, said the delegation came to the United States before it had any meetings confirmed. ... The European delegation was inquiring about reports of a super-secret surveillance network called Echelon that some former intelligence officials have claimed is being used to monitor billions of phone calls, e-mails and faxes.

U.S. officials have not acknowledged the existence of such a system and have said American agencies do not engage in industrial espionage.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), May 11, 2001