http://www.boston.com/dailynews/248/world/European_Parliament_approves_r:.shtml

European Parliament approves recommendations to counter alleged U.S.-led spy network

By Constant Brand, Associated Press, 9/5/2001 15:29

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) An alleged worldwide spy network dubbed Echelon and led by the United States does exist and European nations should set up an encryption system to guard against it, the European Parliament said Wednesday.

The European Union assembly voted 367 to 159, with 34 abstentions, to adopt 44 recommendations on how to counter Echelon.

The parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, also accepted a 140-page report confirming the spy network's existence, despite official U.S. denials.

''There were those who said we would not be able to find sound evidence, said Carlos Coelho, chairman of the investigative committee. ''We can say very clearly that Echelon does exist.''

The committee released a report in May after seven months of testimony from communications and security experts.

EU committee members went to Washington in May but both the CIA and the National Security Agency, believed responsible for Echelon, refused to meet with them.

The report said Echelon was set up at the beginning of the Cold War for intelligence-gathering and has grown into a network of intercept stations across the globe. Its primary purpose, the report said, is to intercept private and commercial communications, not military intelligence.

It said Echelon is run by the United States in cooperation with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

U.S. officials have refused to acknowledge the existence of such a system, and have denied that American agencies engage in industrial espionage.

The report called for closer European cooperation in setting up a joint encryption and intelligence-gathering system. It called on those sending sensitive information by e-mail to start encrypting them.

European Union nations should sign a ban on industrial espionage within the 15-nation bloc and should look more closely at existing national intelligence agencies, the report said.

It also called on the European Union and Washington to draw up rules to strengthen international laws on data and privacy protection.

News reports last year sparked widespread concerns among Europeans that the United States was using their private communications against them. The report concluded, however, that ''only a very small portion'' of global telephone, e-mail and fax communications were being tapped into, mostly via satellite.

The parliament's vice president, Gerhard Schmid, said the committee was unable to gather proof that Americans were passing European trade secrets to U.S. businesses.

''When we are talking about huge international contracts, we know that the U.S. in fact listened to business communications in detail,'' Schmid said, but added that no businesses affected would come forward with evidence.

Former CIA director James Woolsey has acknowledged that the United States secretly collects information on foreign companies, but said it was only done in cases where companies were suspected of violating sanctions or offering bribes to gain business.

On the Net:

http://www.europarl.eu.int/committees/echelon home.htm

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2001