The presumably low-profile National Security Agency has defended the controversial electronic eavesdropping program Echelon which, among other things, is said to be eavesdropping on the communications, e- and otherwise, of ordinary citizens in the United States and abroad.
The NSA has sent a letter to Congress saying their "activities" are "conducted in accordance with the highest constitutional, legal, and ethical standards, and in compliance with statutes and regulations designed to protect the privacy rights of U.S. persons." The letter also noted a report about the NSA and Echelon by CBS's 60 Minutes, which aired the report Feb. 27.
By practice, the NSA restricts its communication with Congress to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. The NSA letter to Congress included a note that, by law, American citizens are entitled to see all government records about themselves, including those of the NSA. But the American Civil Liberties Union has pushed for congressional hearings into Echelon for about a year, saying it "is important that Congress investigate to determine if the Echelon program is as sweeping and intrusive as has been reported."
60 Minutes reported what has long been known to a certain degree among those following the Echelon program - that the NSA cooperates with Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand in running a satellite listening operation which is said to monitor e-mails, faxes, telephone calls, and other communications, purportedly to "sift out useful information about foreign governments, drug trafficking, and terrorism," as APBNews.com phrases it.
A Canadian, Mike Frost, told 60 Minutes one woman ended up in the Echelon database as a potential terrorist because she told a friend on the telephone her son had "bombed" in a school play.
Most recently - as we reported earlier this month - the European Parliament has accused the U.S. of using Echelon for commercial spying to help American companies win contracts over European competitors.
At a Feb. 23 briefing, APBNews says, a State Department spokesman, James Rubin, refused to confirm whether Echelon exists but added the NSA is "not authorized to provide intelligence information to private firms," working in "strict compliance" to federal law.
