9 March 2003
Martin Bright,
GCHQ
arrest over Observer spying report, March 9, 2003
An employee at the top-secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
has been arrested following revelations in The Observer last weekend about
an American 'dirty tricks' surveillance operation to win votes at the United
Nations in favour of a tough new resolution on Iraq. Gloucestershire police
confirmed last night that a 28-year-old woman was arrested last week on suspicion
of contravening the Official Secrets Act. The woman, from the Cheltenham
area, has been released on police bail pending further inquiries. More arrests
are expected. A GCHQ spokesman confirmed last night that the woman was an
employee.
Scott Shane and Ariel Sabar,
Alleged
NSA memo details U.S. eavesdropping at U.N., March 4, 2003
Patrick Weadon, an NSA spokesman, said: "At this point, we're not issuing
a statement." Koza could not be reached for comment.
Martin Bright, the home affairs editor at The Observer and lead writer on
the story, said yesterday that a free-lance reporter was shown the electronic
message and allowed to copy its contents. The Observer's reporters spent
two weeks consulting intelligence experts before feeling confident enough
about the memo's authenticity to publish.
James Bamford, author of two books on the NSA, said the memo sounds authentic,
particularly in its use of such NSA lingo as "surge" for a boost in eavesdropping
coverage and "product lines" for areas of NSA specialization. "Whether this
memo is real or not, there's probably a memo very much like this one," Bamford
said. "This is what NSA's there for, basically." If the memo is authentic,
the leak is highly unusual, Bamford said. "I don't think I've ever seen an
actual memo get out so quickly. Leaks come out every so often, but they're
usually verbal."
Matthew M. Aid, an intelligence historian writing a book on the NSA, said
he recognized the memo's purported author, Koza, as the name of a "senior
operational manager" at the NSA.
2 March 2003. One of the Eyeball
series.
Source of maps and photos: Mapquest.com
Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy and Peter
Beaumont, Revealed:
US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war, March 2, 2003
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against
UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win
votes in favour of war against Iraq. Details of the aggressive surveillance
operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones
and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked
to The Observer.
The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the
National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around
the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and
to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input. The memo
describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy,
to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security
Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute
intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding
the issue of Iraq.
The memo is directed at senior NSA officials and advises them that the agency
is 'mounting a surge' aimed at gleaning information not only on how delegations
on the Security Council will vote on any second resolution on Iraq, but also
'policies', 'negotiating positions', 'alliances' and 'dependencies' - the
'whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining
results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises'.
Dated 31 January 2003, the memo was circulated four days after the UN's chief
weapons inspector Hans Blix produced his interim report on Iraqi compliance
with UN resolution 1441. It was sent by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the
'Regional Targets' section of the NSA, which spies on countries that are
viewed as strategically important for United States interests.
The language and content of the memo were judged to be authentic by three
former intelligence operatives shown it by The Observer. We were also able
to establish that Frank Koza does work for the NSA and could confirm his
senior post in the Regional Targets section of the organisation. The NSA
main switchboard put The Observer through to extension 6727 at the agency
which was answered by an assistant, who confirmed it was Koza's office. However,
when The Observer asked to talk to Koza about the surveillance of diplomatic
missions at the United Nations, it was then told 'You have reached the wrong
number'. On protesting that the assistant had just said this was Koza's
extension, the assistant repeated that it was an erroneous extension, and
hung up.
Text of message on the NSA bugging the United Nations:
http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905954,00.html
To: [Recipients withheld]
From: FRANK KOZA, Def Chief of Staff (Regional Targets) CIV/NSA
Sent on Jan 31 2003 0:16
Subject: Reflections of Iraq Debate/Votes at UN-RT Actions + Potential for
Related Contributions
Importance: HIGH
Top Secret//COMINT//X1
All,
As you've likely heard by now, the Agency is mounting a surge particularly
directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members (minus US and GBR of course)
for insights as to how to membership is reacting to the on-going debate RE:
Iraq, plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/
negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies, etc
- the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge
in obtaining results favorable to US goals or to head off surprises. In RT,
that means a QRC surge effort to revive/create efforts against UNSC members
Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan
UN matters.
There is little information about secretive officials of the National Security
Agency. This Frank Koza residence was bugged by Google and may have nothing
to do with the once-secret snooper.
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