http://www.msnbc.com/news/766299.asp

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U.S. spy imagery viewed by civilians British enthusiast downlinks spy plane images on satellite TV

NBC NEWS AND NEWS SERVICES LONDON, June 13 — Uncovering a potentially serious lapse in NATO security, a British satellite TV enthusiast has discovered that unencrypted U.S. spy plane transmissions used by the alliance can be downlinked on commercially available satellite television. Video available includes images from sensitive military locations such as the NATO mission in Kosovo.

SATELLITE ENTHUSIAST John Locker said that anyone can tune in live to the U.S spy plane transmissions. “I wasn’t tapping into anything. The pictures were freely available and anyone could see them,” Locker told the BBC in an interview. “In fact it was easier to see these pictures than pay-per-view films or even Saturday sports,” he said. Viewers tuning into the satellite this week were able to watch a security alert round the U.S. Army’s headquarters at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. Contacted by NBC News, U.S. officials offered little response to the allegation on Thursday. The National Security Agency and CIA referred questions to the Pentagon, where one official asked: “How do you know it’s real?” But a a U.S. official who watched the video told NBC that the material was real, and acknowledged that there are serious questions about why the United States would potentially jeopardize security by not encrypting the transmission. While not on a combat mission, the NATO forces in the Balkans are in an area of al-Qaida activity, the official said on condition of anonymity. There have been recent threats against the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo, and Islamic radicals have been known to operate in the region. Another U.S. official, asked about the broadcasts, said there were plans now to encrypt the data. INTERNET TRANSMISSION The pictures, from manned spy aircraft and drones, have been broadcast through a satellite over Brazil. The links, which are not encrypted, have been transmitted also over the Internet. “They were from a commercial satellite, sending pictures just as any commercial satellite would,” Locker said. Locker said he had been trying for seven months to warn NATO and the Americans about the broadcasts showing NATO surveillance operations over the Balkans. “They eventually told me it was a hardware constraint, they were aware of it and they thanked me for my concern,” he said. Advertisement

“Obviously I’m not a military analyst and I’m not an expert in this field but I am just amazed this type of material is going out free-to-air. “They put up data quite often which identified vehicles and the area to within two meters (yards). That to me is a risk.” U.S. officials told NBC that sending the video without encryption would save both time and money. Military satellite channels have been overbooked, so the Pentagon routinely uses commercial satellites. But since 1984 the Pentagon has required that satellite feeds be encrypted. ‘PLANS TO ENCRYPT DATA’ Last week, the spy plane provided airborne cover for a heavily protected patrol of the Macedonian-Kosovo border near Skopje. • Strategic map • On the front lines • Pakistan • Iraq • Israel • Saudi Arabia • Philippines

Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, told the BBC: “There are plans to encrypt this data.” “We have discovered in the period since September 11 how important this sort of real-time intelligence is. Now we are making much better use of this kind of information and it will make sense to encrypt it in the future.” Locker, also interviewed by The Guardian newspaper, said: “I thought that the U.S. had made a deadly error. My first thought was that they were sending their spy plane pictures through the wrong satellite by mistake and broadcasting secret information across Europe.” One U.S. military intelligence source told the paper: “We seem to be transmitting this information potentially straight to our enemies...This could let people see where our forces are and what they are doing. That’s putting our boys at risk.” There was no immediate comment from NATO in Brussels. NBC’s Robert Windrem in New York, Andrea Mitchell in Washington, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2002

Answers

I heard this on the news the other night. Isn't it absolutely amazing and totally consistent?

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2002

I'm only glad that our enemies seem a little more bumbling than we are. Only a little, though.

-- Anonymous, June 16, 2002