Back to Action America

Top

The information disclosed on these pages was never meant to be shared with the general public.  Read on and find out why.

Because of recent disclosures by the Australian Government and a subsequent investigation by the European Parliament, we now know that our government, in violation of the 4th Amendment, is spying on every one of us.

Use the links to the left to learn more about ECHELON and the severe threat that it poses.

NSA Refuses Order From Congress

Early in 2000, the NSA asserted attorney-client privilege to block the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from obtaining documents it requested.  Congressman Bob Barr (GA-7) noted in an article in Insight Magazine, "While this argument carries absolutely no legal weight, the fact the NSA made it in the first place is a definite warning sign that something is wrong."

In response, Barr and Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) added an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Authorization bill (H.R. 1555), that required the Intelligence Community to report within 60 days on the precise legal standards it uses when communications involving American citizens are intercepted.  The version of the bill that actually passed is a much watered down version of what Barr and Inhofe had written, so although H.R. 1555, was signed into law, the report presented by the NSA was next to useless.

 

This page will be updated as often as necessary to keep you informed of events relating to ECHELON.
Last updated 2/6/02

---

The Latest on ECHELON

September 7, 2001
European Parliament Resolution Issues Recommendations to Member States

The final verdict is in from the EU Parliament.  Those who want to read through the whole dry text of the report may find it here.

It is significant to note that among the recommendations of the European Parliament were the following:

"8. The USA is called upon to sign the Additional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, so that complaints by individuals concerning breaches of the Covenant by the USA can be submitted to the Human Rights Committee set up under the Covenant..."

"15. The Member States and the US Administration are called upon to start an open US-EU dialogue on economic intelligence-gathering."

"20. The Member States' intelligence services are called upon to accept data from other intelligence services only in cases where such data has been obtained in accordance with the conditions laid down by their own domestic law, as Member States cannot evade the obligations arising from the EHCR (European Court of Human Rights) by using other intelligence services."

"21. Germany and the United Kingdom are called upon to make the authorisation of further communications interception operations by US intelligence services on their territory conditional on their compliance with the EHCR."

The resolution also calls upon Member States to devise and routinely use Open-Source Encryption and further calls for a security standard within the EU that places email programs that are not Open-Source in the "least reliable" category.

It should be noted that at this point in time, neither the USA nor the United Kingdom have responded to the calls upon them, voiced in this resolution.

NEXT - What is ECHELON?