{"id":11531,"date":"2013-11-05T09:10:34","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T09:10:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=11531"},"modified":"2013-11-05T09:10:34","modified_gmt":"2013-11-05T09:10:34","slug":"britains-secret-listening-post-in-berlin-uncovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=11531","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s secret listening post in Berlin uncovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"berlinembassyuk\"<\/a>Concerns were raised tonight that Britain operates a top-secret listening post from its Berlin embassy to eavesdrop on the seat of German power.<\/p>\n

Documents leaked by the US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden show that GCHQ is, together with the US and other key partners, operating a network of electronic spy posts from diplomatic buildings around the world, which intercept data in host nations.<\/p>\n

An American intercept \u201cnest\u201d on top of its embassy in Berlin \u2013 less than 150 metres from Britain\u2019s own diplomatic mission \u2013 is believed to have been shut down last week as the US scrambled to limit the damage from revelations that it listened to mobile phone calls made by Chancellor Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n

But the NSA documents, in conjunction with aerial photographs and\u00a0 information about past spying activities in Germany, suggest that Britain is operating its own covert listening station within a stone\u2019s throw of the Bundestag, Germany\u2019s parliament, and Ms Merkel\u2019s offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.<\/p>\n

The potentially toxic allegation that Britain has a listening station in the capital of a close European Union ally will test relations between London and Berlin only days after the row between Germany and the US about its own clandestine activities. Jan Albrecht, an MEP for Germany\u2019s Green Party and a leading campaigner on privacy and data protection, told The Independent: \u201cIf GCHQ runs a listening post on the top of the UK\u2019s Berlin embassy, it is clearly targeting politicians and journalists. Do these people pose a threat?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU has asked David Cameron\u2019s Government to explain the activities of GCHQ in Europe but it has declined to do so, saying it does not comment on activities in the interest of national security. This is hardly in the spirit of European co-operation. We are not enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked to respond to the concerns last night, Mr Cameron\u2019s official spokesman said: \u201cWe don\u2019t comment on intelligence questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infrared images taken by a German television station, ARD, appear to show that the US embassy spying facility, housed in an anonymous rooftop building, has now been shut down after an incendiary clash in which Mrs Merkel told President Barack Obama it was \u201cjust not done\u201d for friendly nations to spy on each other.<\/p>\n

The heat signature from the structure dropped dramatically last week in the immediate aftermath of the conversation, and equipment inside has not been detected as having been turned on since.<\/p>\n

The eavesdropping base, concealed in a box-like structure with special windows made of fibreglass which are opaque to light but allow radio signals to pass unhindered, was run jointly by CIA and NSA agents in a top-secret unit called the Special Collection Service (SCS). Despite the row the German authorities appear not to have noticed \u2013 or protested about \u2013 a potential parallel and linked surveillance unit on top of the British embassy.<\/p>\n

According to one NSA document, Washington recently closed some of the 100 SCS locations it operates in embassies around the world and transferred some of the work to GCHQ, which is based in Cheltenham. In 2010, the SCS was known to operate 19 facilities in Europe, including stations in both Berlin and Frankfurt.<\/p>\n

Documents shown to The Independent state that the operation uses equipment hidden within the fabric of diplomatic buildings and only a small number of personnel operating under diplomatic cover whose \u201ctrue mission\u201d is unknown even to the majority of their colleagues.<\/p>\n

Aerial photographs of the British embassy in Berlin show a potential eavesdropping base enclosed inside a white, cylindrical tent-like structure which cannot be easily seen from the streets. The structure has been in place since the embassy, which was built following the reunification of Germany, opened in 2000.<\/p>\n

The structure bears a striking resemblance to spying equipment used in GCHQ\u2019s Cold War listening post in West Berlin at the now-abandoned Teufelsberg or \u201cDevil\u2019s Mountain\u201d site, which was used to intercept East German and Soviet communications.<\/p>\n

Equipment within the embassy unit would be capable of intercepting mobile phone calls, wi-fi data and long-distance communications across the German capital, including the adjacent government buildings such as the Reichstag and the Chancellery clustered around the Brandenburg Gate.<\/p>\n

Last night GCHQ officials refused to discuss ongoing security matters.<\/p>\n

Such is the critical importance of the network of embassy spying bases \u2013 the US version of which the NSA has codenamed \u201cStateroom\u201d \u2013 that the NSA and the CIA have built a mock embassy-style site in woodland outside Washington DC to test their technology and train operatives.<\/p>\n

Satellite images of the site in Maryland also show a white cylindrical structure in the grounds of the facility similar to the one on the roof of Britain\u2019s Berlin embassy.<\/p>\n

The NSA documents provided by Mr Snowden state that Stateroom-type operations are run by the US, Britain, Canada and Australia. Together with New Zealand, the countries form the \u201cFive Eyes\u201d at the core of an international eavesdropping coalition.The NSA document outlining Stateroom describes it as \u201ccovert SIGINT [signals intelligence] collection sites located in diplomatic facilities abroad… [including] SCS (at US diplomatic facilities) and government communications headquarters (at British diplomatic facilities)\u201d.<\/p>\n

The briefing underlines the clandestine nature of the operation, adding: \u201cThese sites are small in size and in the number of personnel staffing them. They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cconcealed collection system\u201d within the embassies utilises \u201csheds\u201d or structures with fake windows. The document said: \u201cCollection equipment on a building is concealed so as not to reveal SIGINT activity… antennas are sometimes hidden in false\u00a0 architectural features or roof maintenance sheds.\u201d<\/p>\n

German and US diplomatic relations have fallen to an unprecedented low since evidence emerged that the personal mobile of Mrs Merkel, who is known to conduct sensitive government business by phone and text message, was targeted by SCS. Intelligence officials from Germany are now in Washington negotiating an end to mass surveillance on German territory as well as a formal pact not to conduct spying operations on friendly nations. But any suggestion that Britain could also have intercepted the calls of German politicians or officials \u2013 even if only as part of a much wider sweep of the German capital \u2013 would prove damaging.<\/p>\n

A separate leaked SCS document states that Stateroom and other facilities target mobile phones or wi-fi networks. The location of any equipment within the British embassy would make it unlikely that data from Mrs Merkel\u2019s residence and offices would not have been collected.<\/p>\n

Secret bugging operations similar to the British and American Berlin embassy operations have been making the news for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n

In 1971, American news columnist Jack Anderson reported that\u00a0 NSA and GCHQ were successfully monitoring Soviet leaders\u2019 radio links from Russian-made Zil limousines, producing streams of information about foreign policy and military intentions \u2013 but also revealing that the Soviet leaders \u201cbanter and bicker \u2026 and gossip\u201d. \u201cThe leaders \u2026 complain about their ailments like old maids,\u201d\u00a0 he wrote.<\/p>\n

As with the Snowden leaks, at the time the NSA claimed that the Anderson leak caused the Russians to shut down their use of limo phones.<\/p>\n

This was not true \u2013 the Soviets just went on chattering. On 26 May 1972, according to released US documents, the embassy suites produced information that was vital to securing the East-West agreement not to use anti-missile missiles.<\/p>\n

The Russians\u2019 real response to the revelation was to blast both embassies with high intensity radio signals, in a failed attempt\u00a0 to jam the receiving equipment. The radio onslaught provoked concerns for the health and\u00a0 safety of both diplomats and spies. – The Independent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concerns were raised tonight that Britain operates a top-secret listening post from its Berlin embassy to eavesdrop on the seat of German power. Documents leaked by the US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden show that GCHQ is, together with the US and other key partners, operating a network of electronic spy posts from diplomatic … Continue reading “Britain’s secret listening post in Berlin uncovered”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,3,10,123],"tags":[7295,186,2990,3408,3355,7294],"class_list":["post-11531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-news","category-united-states","category-world","tag-berlin-embassy","tag-britain","tag-edward-snowden","tag-gchq","tag-surveillance","tag-top-secret-listening-post"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/berlinembassyuk.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11533,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11531\/revisions\/11533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}