DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U) Back in Time: The ECHELON Story
FROM:
Foreign Affairs Directorate Special Advisor (DP09)
Run Date: 07/19/2005
ECHELON , a system targeting communications satellites, caught the ire of Europeans several
years ago... (S//SI)
(C//SI) The ECHELON story... revisited. It's worth a reminder that NSA's foreign SIGINT
relationships are not far removed from the public spotlight. ECHELON is the most vivid example
of this fact, although events post-9/11 have overtaken the spotlight and the ECHELON story
rarely makes the news these days. Could it be that the European nations that previously made
the claims about ECHELON and industrial espionage have come to realize that, yes, there is an
ECHELON system, but rather than conducting alleged industrial espionage, it is a vital
contributor to the global war on terror?
(C) Undoubtedly the most prominent moment in the ECHELON saga was the Summer of 2000
when the European Parliament appointed a 36-member ad hoc committee to spend a year
investigating ECHELON. As the media spotlight brightened, a series of events occurred which
help tell the story. These included a visit to the US by members of the EU Commission, during
which the members declared their intention to come to NSA to get ground truth. While the visit
to NSA did not take place, the members were directed to our congressional oversight
committees who reaffirmed with emphasis that NSA operates within all the rules and laws, and
with full congressional oversight.
(C) Corporate NSA ( FAD , SID, OGC , PAO , and Policy ) ensured that our interests, and our
SIGINT partners' interests, were protected throughout the ordeal; and ironically, the final report
of the EU Commission reflected not only that NSA played by the rules, with congressional
oversight, but that those characteristics were lacking when the Commission applied its
investigatory criteria to other European nations. In the final analysis, the "pig rule" applied when
dealing with this tacky matter: "Don't wrestle in the mud with the pigs. They like it, and you
both get dirty."
(U) The extensive story of ECHELON will be part of the forthcoming history initiative.
(U//FOUO) This article is reprinted from the Foreign Affairs Digest, June edition.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108