Man has
climbed the highest mountains; he has
penetrated the densest forests, crossed
the greatest deserts and descended miles
below to the murky depths of the ocean
floor. He has conquered the skies, the
land and the sea, but there is one
battle he has not won – yet – the battle
to conquer the mind.
In a sleepy suburb on the outskirts of
Las Vegas, Margaret Newsham is
attempting to lead a normal life away
from the days where she worked at a
giant listening station at RAF base
Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, England.
Despite this, she is unable to escape
her past.
She sleeps with a loaded gun under her
bed and is protected by her 120-pound
German shepherd, who is trained to guard
and attack. At any time, certain
factions in the NSA and the CIA may
attempt to silence her for her role in
the most extensive espionage
network
on earth, capable of tapping into
millions of phone calls an hour: project
ECHELON.
Mrs. Newsham was an
employee for Lockheed
Martin, the largest
munitions suppliers to
the US military and
intelligence agencies,
the NSA and CIA. Newsham
says:
“It is almost impossible
to tell the difference
between NSA agents and
civilians employed by
Lockheed Martin, Ford
and IBM. The borderlines
are very vague. I had
one of the highest
security classifications
which required the
approval of the CIA, the
NSA, the Navy and the
Air Force. The approval
included both a lie
detector test, and an
expanded personal
history test in which my
family and acquaintances
were discretely checked
by the security agency.”
For her part, Newsham
was regretful for the
part she played in
spying on politicians
and ordinary people:
“On the day at Menwith
Hill when I realized in
earnest how utterly
wrong it was, I was
sitting with one of the
many ‘translators’. He
was an expert in
languages like Russian,
Chinese and Japanese.
Suddenly he asked me if
I wanted to listen in on
a conversation taking
place in the US at an
office
in the US Senate
Building. Then I clearly
heard a southern
American dialect I
thought I had heard
before.”
“Who is that?” I asked
the translator who told
me that it was
Republican senator Strom
Thurmond. ‘Oh my gosh!’
I thought. We’re not
only spying on other
countries, but also on
our own citizens. That’s
when I realized in
earnest that what we
were doing had nothing
to do with national
security interests of
the US.”
And US Senator Thurmond
is just the tip of the
iceberg. In 1983,
British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher asked
that government
ministers who had
challenged her on policy
issues be placed under
electronic surveillance,
although it wasn’t until
2000 that former
Canadian secret service
insider Mike Frost blew
the whistle: “[Thatcher]
had two ministers that
she said ‘…weren’t
onside,’” says Frost.
“[She] wanted to find
out, not what these
ministers were saying,
but what they were
thinking.”
President Ronald
Reagan with Senator
Strom Thurmond
Photo:
Darth Kalwejt
Ever
since
investigative
journalist
Duncan
Campbell
first
exposed
ECHELON’s
existence
in 1988,
various
other
ex-intelligence
service
employees
have
broken
their
silence
on the
network’s
activities.
Former
NSA man
Wayne
Madsen
claimed
his
former
employers
held
hundreds
of pages
of
information
on
Princess
Diana.
The
surveillance
network
was also
involved
in
international
economic
espionage
and
could
well spy
on NGO’s
like
Amnesty
International
and
Greenpeace.
All
these
informants
seem to
agree on
one
thing.
This was
electronic
spying
for the
21st
Century,
capable
of
listening
in on
the most
confidential
contents
of
people’s
lives.
ECHELON
At least
ten
ECHELON
stations
operate
around
the
world,
and the
network
has the
capacity
to
monitor
huge
volumes
of
international
fax,
phone
and
Internet
communications.
It
operates
on
behalf
of five
states
signed
up to
the
UK-USA
Security
Agreement:
Australia,
Canada,
New
Zealand,
the UK,
and the
US.
No phone
call
you’ve
made or
text
message
you’ve
sent is
ultimately
safe
from
their
electronic
eavesdropping.
ECHELON
is able
to
intercept
and
inspect
the
contents
of
communications
via a
global
network
of
satellite
stations
and
monitoring
centres
that
capture
radio,
satellite,
microwave,
cellular
and
fibre
optic
traffic.
It can
automatically
sift out
flagged
keywords
and
flagged
addresses
from
masses
of sent
information.
Spying
centre:
Menwith
Hill
communications
and
intelligence
station
Says
Margaret
Newsham:
“Even
then,
ECHELON
was very
big and
sophisticated.
As early
as 1979
we could
track a
specific
person
and zoom
in on
his
phone
conversation
while he
was
communicating.
Since
our
satellites
could in
1984
film a
postage
stamp
lying on
the
ground,
it is
almost
impossible
to
imagine
how
all-encompassing
the
system
must be
today.”
“I just
think of
ECHELON
as a
great
vacuum
cleaner
in the
sky
which
sucks
everything
up,”
says
ex-Canadian
intelligence
insider
Mike
Frost.
“We just
get to
look at
the
goodies.”
Beneath
the
surface:
Undersea
cable
tapping
pod laid
by US
submarine
>
Photo
via:
Cyber
Rights
Mass
surveillance
is
nothing
new.
After
the
interception
of
short-wave
radio
communications
from
great
distances
during
WWII
came new
opportunities
afforded
by
satellite
technology.
Now, of
course,
we live
in an
age of
fibre
optics,
with
over 99
percent
of voice
and data
traffic
transmitted
via this
medium.
Yet
while
fibre
optics
appear
harder
to
access,
they’re
far from
failsafe.
Long-distance
cables
can be
tapped
even at
submarine
levels
and
intercept
equipment
placed
where
fibre
optic
communications
are
switched
between
networks,
meaning
emails
could
easily
be
hijacked.
Ascension
Island
In 1996
Nicky
Hager,
in his
book
Secret
Power,
claimed
that a
remote
location
in the
South
Atlantic,
Ascension
Island,
was the
secret
location
for a
station
that
represented
a
missing
piece in
the
ECHELON
puzzle.
Installing
a
station
on this
volcanic
outcrop
would
have
completed
the
international
intelligence
1990s
network
– a
lucky
seventh
station
to help
intercept
communications
in the
southern
hemisphere,
alongside
newly
added
stations
in New
Zealand
and
Australia.
Satellite
tracking
station:
Pine
Gap,
near
Alice
Springs,
Australia
Photo:
Unknown
Photographer
Several
ground
stations
are key
to
ECHELON’s
global
communications
network,
among
them
Menwith
Hill,
Sugar
Hill
government
communications
station
in West
Virginia,
Pine Gap
in
Australia,
and New
Zealand’s
communications
bureau
GCSB
Waihopai.
Canada,
Japan,
the UK,
Australia
and
various
states
in the
US are
also
known
sites
for
other
stations.
Then of
course
there is
less
known
likelihood
of a
station
on
Ascension
Island.
Perhaps
it’s
worth a
mission
to that
far-flung
outpost
to find
out
what’s
going on
there.
You only
live
twice.
Karl was
raised
in Wales
and
currently
lives in
Bristol,
though
his
family
tree
branches
to both
sides of
the
Atlantic.
Besides
holding
an
English
MA, he’s
made a
documentary
on
grassroots
boxing,
played
drums in
punk
rock
bands,
and
traveled
some
lush
parts of
the
globe.
Back
from
copywriting
in
Dubai’s
desert,
he’s
thirsty
to get
scribbling
about
things
worth
scribbling
about –
especially
the
environment.
Sun, Apr 26, 2009
Featured Environmental Graffiti Will be Changing Drammatically Soon. Get a Sneak Preview By Signing Up Here.
Menwith Hill Aerial Photo: Yorkshire CND
Man has climbed the highest mountains; he has penetrated the densest forests, crossed the greatest deserts and descended miles below to the murky depths of the ocean floor. He has conquered the skies, the land and the sea, but there is one battle he has not won – yet – the battle to conquer the mind.
In a sleepy suburb on the outskirts of Las Vegas, Margaret Newsham is attempting to lead a normal life away from the days where she worked at a giant listening station at RAF base Menwith Hill in Yorkshire, England. Despite this, she is unable to escape her past.
She sleeps with a loaded gun under her bed and is protected by her 120-pound German shepherd, who is trained to guard and attack. At any time, certain factions in the NSA and the CIA may attempt to silence her for her role in the most extensive espionage network on earth, capable of tapping into millions of phone calls an hour: project ECHELON.
“It is almost impossible to tell the difference between NSA agents and civilians employed by Lockheed Martin, Ford and IBM. The borderlines are very vague. I had one of the highest security classifications which required the approval of the CIA, the NSA, the Navy and the Air Force. The approval included both a lie detector test, and an expanded personal history test in which my family and acquaintances were discretely checked by the security agency.”
For her part, Newsham was regretful for the part she played in spying on politicians and ordinary people:
“On the day at Menwith Hill when I realized in earnest how utterly wrong it was, I was sitting with one of the many ‘translators’. He was an expert in languages like Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Suddenly he asked me if I wanted to listen in on a conversation taking place in the US at an office in the US Senate Building. Then I clearly heard a southern American dialect I thought I had heard before.”
“Who is that?” I asked the translator who told me that it was Republican senator Strom Thurmond. ‘Oh my gosh!’ I thought. We’re not only spying on other countries, but also on our own citizens. That’s when I realized in earnest that what we were doing had nothing to do with national security interests of the US.”
And US Senator Thurmond is just the tip of the iceberg. In 1983, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher asked that government ministers who had challenged her on policy issues be placed under electronic surveillance, although it wasn’t until 2000 that former Canadian secret service insider Mike Frost blew the whistle: “[Thatcher] had two ministers that she said ‘…weren’t onside,’” says Frost. “[She] wanted to find out, not what these ministers were saying, but what they were thinking.”
President Ronald Reagan with Senator Strom Thurmond
Photo: Darth Kalwejt
All these informants seem to agree on one thing. This was electronic spying for the 21st Century, capable of listening in on the most confidential contents of people’s lives.
ECHELON
At least ten ECHELON stations operate around the world, and the network has the capacity to monitor huge volumes of international fax, phone and Internet communications. It operates on behalf of five states signed up to the UK-USA Security Agreement: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
No phone call you’ve made or text message you’ve sent is ultimately safe from their electronic eavesdropping. ECHELON is able to intercept and inspect the contents of communications via a global network of satellite stations and monitoring centres that capture radio, satellite, microwave, cellular and fibre optic traffic. It can automatically sift out flagged keywords and flagged addresses from masses of sent information.
Spying centre: Menwith Hill communications and intelligence station
Photo 1: E Asterion Photo2: Imran
Says Margaret Newsham: “Even then, ECHELON was very big and sophisticated. As early as 1979 we could track a specific person and zoom in on his phone conversation while he was communicating. Since our satellites could in 1984 film a postage stamp lying on the ground, it is almost impossible to imagine how all-encompassing the system must be today.”
“I just think of ECHELON as a great vacuum cleaner in the sky which sucks everything up,” says ex-Canadian intelligence insider Mike Frost. “We just get to look at the goodies.”
Beneath the surface: Undersea cable tapping pod laid by US submarine
>
Photo via: Cyber Rights
Southern Cross Subsea Cable Route
Image: J.P.Lon, Mysid
Mass surveillance is nothing new. After the interception of short-wave radio communications from great distances during WWII came new opportunities afforded by satellite technology. Now, of course, we live in an age of fibre optics, with over 99 percent of voice and data traffic transmitted via this medium. Yet while fibre optics appear harder to access, they’re far from failsafe. Long-distance cables can be tapped even at submarine levels and intercept equipment placed where fibre optic communications are switched between networks, meaning emails could easily be hijacked.
Ascension Island
In 1996 Nicky Hager, in his book Secret Power, claimed that a remote location in the South Atlantic, Ascension Island, was the secret location for a station that represented a missing piece in the ECHELON puzzle. Installing a station on this volcanic outcrop would have completed the international intelligence 1990s network – a lucky seventh station to help intercept communications in the southern hemisphere, alongside newly added stations in New Zealand and Australia.
Satellite tracking station: Pine Gap, near Alice Springs, Australia
Photo: Unknown Photographer
Unlocated spying station: Ascension Island
Photo: startedrabbit III
Several ground stations are key to ECHELON’s global communications network, among them Menwith Hill, Sugar Hill government communications station in West Virginia, Pine Gap in Australia, and New Zealand’s communications bureau GCSB Waihopai. Canada, Japan, the UK, Australia and various states in the US are also known sites for other stations. Then of course there is less known likelihood of a station on Ascension Island. Perhaps it’s worth a mission to that far-flung outpost to find out what’s going on there. You only live twice.
This post was written by:
Karl Fabricius - who has written 81 posts on Environmental Graffiti.
Karl was raised in Wales and currently lives in Bristol, though his family tree branches to both sides of the Atlantic. Besides holding an English MA, he’s made a documentary on grassroots boxing, played drums in punk rock bands, and traveled some lush parts of the globe. Back from copywriting in Dubai’s desert, he’s thirsty to get scribbling about things worth scribbling about – especially the environment.