EU approves recommendations to counter Echelon spy network

[Ian Brown]

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- An alleged worldwide spy network dubbed 
Echelon and led by the United States does exist -- and European 
nations should set up an encryption system to guard against it, the 
European Parliament said Wednesday.

The European Union assembly voted 367 to 159, with 34 abstentions, to 
adopt 44 recommendations on how to counter Echelon.

The parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, also accepted a 
140-page report confirming the spy network's existence, despite 
official U.S. denials.

``There were those who said we would not be able to find sound 
evidence, said Carlos Coelho, chairman of the investigative 
committee. ``We can say very clearly that Echelon does exist.''

The committee released a report in May after seven months of 
testimony from communications and security experts.

EU committee members went to Washington in May but both the CIA and 
the National Security Agency, believed responsible for Echelon, 
refused to meet with them.

The report said Echelon was set up at the beginning of the Cold War 
for intelligence-gathering and has grown into a network of intercept 
stations across the globe. Its primary purpose, the report said, is 
to intercept private and commercial communications, not military 
intelligence.

It said Echelon is run by the United States in cooperation with 
Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

U.S. officials have refused to acknowledge the existence of such a 
system, and have denied that American agencies engage in industrial 
espionage.

The report called for closer European cooperation in setting up a 
joint encryption and intelligence-gathering system. It called on 
those sending sensitive information by e-mail to start encrypting 
them.

European Union nations should sign a ban on industrial espionage 
within the 15-nation bloc and should look more closely at existing 
national intelligence agencies, the report said.

It also called on the European Union and Washington to draw up rules 
to strengthen international laws on data and privacy protection.

News reports last year sparked widespread concerns among Europeans 
that the United States was using their private communications against 
them. The report concluded, however, that ``only a very small 
portion'' of global telephone, e-mail and fax communications were 
being tapped into, mostly via satellite.

The parliament's vice president, Gerhard Schmid, said the committee 
was unable to gather proof that Americans were passing European trade 
secrets to U.S. businesses.

``When we are talking about huge international contracts, we know 
that the U.S. in fact listened to business communications in 
detail,'' Schmid said, but added that no businesses affected would 
come forward with evidence.

Former CIA director James Woolsey has acknowledged that the United 
States secretly collects information on foreign companies, but said 
it was only done in cases where companies were suspected of violating 
sanctions or offering bribes to gain business.