And the beat goes on...this time it's "DROPMIRE"
The Guardian
Ewen MacAskill
6/30/13
New NSA leaks show how US is bugging its European allies
Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers reveal 38 targets including EU, France and Italy
Quote:
<snip>
One of the bugging methods mentioned is codenamed 'Dropmire',
which according to a 2007 document is "implanted on the Cryptofax at the EU embassy, DC"
– an apparent reference to a bug placed in a commercially
available encrypted fax machine used at the mission.
The NSA documents notes the machine is used to send cables back
to foreign affairs ministries in European capitals.<snip>
The German magazine Der Spiegel reported at the weekend that
some of the bugging operations in Brussels targeting the EU's Justus Lipsius building
– a venue for summit and ministerial meetings in the Belgian capital –
were directed from within Nato headquarters nearby.<snip>
The US intelligence service codename for the bugging operation
targeting the EU mission at the United Nations is 'Perdido'.
The operation against the French mission to the UN had the covername 'Blackfoot'
and the one against its embassy in Washington was 'Wabash'.
The Italian embassy in Washington was known to the NSA as both 'Bruneau' and 'Hemlock'.
The eavesdropping of the Greek UN mission was known as 'Powell"
and the operation against its embassy was referred to as 'Klondyke'.
Although the latest documents are part of an NSA haul leaked by Snowden,
it is not clear in each case whether the surveillance was being exclusively done by the NSA
– which is most probable as the embassies and missions are technically overseas –
or by the FBI or the CIA, or a combination of them.
The 2010 document describes the operation as "close access domestic collection".
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