Carefully, you hear "Echelon"! (excursion into the history and present of the English-speaking system of global electronic espionage)

So, I beg to be my first habratopik :)

Almost every domestic and Hollywood spy movie has wonderful technicians who can listen to any telephone conversation, hack into some kind of state-owned data bank and generally get access to super-secret information with the help of a left finger. It describes the omnipotent computer systems that begin to record your conversations as soon as you accidentally pronounce the words "Bomb" or "Allah Akbar." Finally, they show how agents of various intelligence agencies cooperate among themselves, sharing experience and merging each other's important data. The funny thing is that a lot of this is pure truth. The intelligence services of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are actively cooperating in precisely this vein, and they began to do so in the 1940s of the last century. The result of this collaboration was (what a cool plot for another spy movie), a system of global electronic espionage, known as Echelon. There was a whole layer of myths around her, former employees of the National Security Agency and Canadian Intelligence vied with each other about her omnipotence, her ability to recognize and record speech in telephone conversations, hardly understand what the terrorists and mere mortals say on the phone, what they write to e-mail, etc. Of all the heaps of such rumors, gossip, legends, myths and publications, I tried to highlight the information that today can be called reliable.

What it is?

The Echelon project is a system of global electronic espionage designed to intercept radio signals and electronic messages and then extract necessary information from their mass. Many myths arose around it, the project started back in the forties of the last century, its goals changed more than once, and the term appeared in the open press only in 1980. The real echelon acquired in 2001, due to the failure of the contract for the supply of Airbus aircraft from France to Saudi Arabia. The result of this was a hearing in the European Parliament , which included, among other things, experts who expressed views on the scale, design and principle of operation of the system. There is still no reliable data available in the public domain that allows you to say exactly what Echelon is capable of and what it is used for. Many experts who posed such questions came to the conclusion that the system was probably intended primarily for political and industrial espionage. James Bamford, in her book “Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency,” concludes that she is able to intercept and analyze radio messages, phone calls, faxes, email, satellite broadcasts, Internet traffic, collecting all sorts of data. and highlighting potentially useful information on certain keywords.
Most of the information on the project (such as the statements of James Bamford) are not officially confirmed, based on an analysis of a few declassified documents, memories of people related to Echelon by the nature of their professional activities, assumptions by experts, and in many cases simply interested activists . Estimates of the "globality" of the system vary, and according to the US government, are greatly exaggerated. There is a deal of truth in it. The term itself, having become widespread in popular culture, was overgrown with myths, legends and unfounded assertions.
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Where did the "Echelon" go

German encryption machine "Enigma"

The origins of the creation of a system of global electronic espionage lie in the area of cooperation between the intelligence agencies of the United States and Great Britain. It actively developed since the First World War and expanded significantly during the Second World War. Thanks to the cooperation of two intelligence agencies, the British and American cryptanalysts achieved great success by breaking into the cryptograms of the Enigma machine cipher used by Germany since the early thirties in many branches of the military, including the submarine fleet and the air force. Both intelligence agencies actively interacted, both in the area of technical resources (for example, copies of Bomb machines built in Great Britain with the participation of Alan Turing to crack Enigma cryptograms were built and actively used in America) and in personnel training and information exchange. In the above-mentioned project, on both sides of the ocean, thousands of people of various specialties were involved (radio interception specialists, cryptanalysts, operators, translators, etc.).

Shifrdiski "Enigma"

Cooperation was also conducted in other areas and was formalized by the signing of a BRUSA agreement between the US military department and the British government school of codes and ciphers (located in Blattley Park ) on May 17, 1943. Under this agreement, personnel were exchanged and important information was transferred between the two institutions.

Protocomputer "Bomb", created in Blatshli Park for hacking cryptograms "Enigma"

In the post-war years, a UK-USA SIGINT security agreement was signed on its basis (an agreement on the radio engineering and intelligence security of the United States and Great Britain). On behalf of the USA, NSA participates in it, from the UK - Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ, former government school of codes and ciphers), New Zealand - Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), Australia - Defense Signals Directorate (DSD), Canada - Communications Security Establishment Canada. Despite the fact that for a long time the participating countries denied the very existence of such an agreement, the report of the European Parliament gave many weighty arguments in favor of the existence and operation of the UKUSA agreement in this format, namely:

The scale of the interaction of NSA and GCHQ. Including the incident during which the American experts of the NSA worked together with the British experts on the equipment owned by GCHQ due to the failure of its own.
The Prime Minister’s New Zealand’s Department of Security and Intelligence Services of 2000 directly stated the following: “The operation of the GCSB is directed solely by the New Zealand Government. It is, however, a member of a long-standing collaborative international partnership. The United States Government’s National Security Agency (NSA), The United States Government’s Government Communications Headquarters (DSA), and the United Kingdom’s National Security Agency It’s not a problem.
According to the directory of terms, acronyms and abbreviations published by the US Navy and Marine Corps (US Navy and Marine corps) UKUSA is nothing but United Kingdom-USA and means five nations' agreement on SIGINT (a well-known abbreviation for Signals Intelligence - electronic intelligence), in the original: “5-nation SIGINT agreement”.
The director of the Australian DSD intelligence service confirmed the existence of the UKUSA agreement in an interview.
The Security and Intelligence Committee’s report to the Canadian Parliament describes exactly how Canada interacts with its intelligence allies. According to the report, these allies are: NSA, GCHQ, DSD, GCSB.
Interview with University of Cambridge professor Christopher Andrew, who met with former NSA director Louis Torella. He in turn indicated that he was present at the signing and confirmation of the agreement.
GCHQ head Joe Hooper referred to the agreement in a letter dated July 22, 1969 to NSA director Carter.

The intelligence officers of all five participating countries have in one way or another confirmed the existence of the agreement. The author of the report of the European Parliament, Gerhard Schmid, has brought indisputable arguments. It is easy to find one more proof of the existence of the agreement, just go to the official website of the Canadian armed forces and try to look for reports with the phrase “UKUSA” there. Having received a business-like remark “did you mean: usa?”, We will find a document colorfully entitled “THE FUTURE OF MILITARY INTELLIGENCE WITHIN THE CANADIAN FORCES” dated 2001 and having paid attention to the equally colorful section “Strengths” we read: “Finally, The CFA is a partnership with the United States of America and NORAD treaties, and the UKUSA intelligence agreements. This gives the CF "a place at the table", and Sources stubbornly report that the benefits of the agreement are enormous, and none of the intelligence services alone have achieved such overwhelming results. Thus, the very existence of the UKUSA agreement is not for anyone and is not considered a secret a long time ago.
As I already mentioned, the agreement has not been published in the open press so far and its content can only be guessed at. However, it is nothing more than an extension of the BRUSA agreement. In addition to the radio intelligence itself and the Echelon system, in particular, the UKUSA agreement also applies to other areas. If you believe what is known at the moment, the parties to the UKUSA agreement actually divided the globe into zones, where each country participating in the agreement led (and leads) the collection and analysis of the information received. So, Australia was responsible for Indochina, Indonesia, the southern part of mainland China. Canada - for the northern regions of the USSR, New Zealand - for the western Pacific Ocean, Great Britain - for Europe, the USSR to the Urals, and Africa. The USA is in favor of Latin America, Asia, the Asian part of Russia, and northern China. Thus, by 1948, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand had reached an agreement on electronic intelligence. You can talk about the emergence of a diplomatic base for the creation of a system similar to Echelon. The development of the project itself is difficult to trace due to the lack of sufficient information to this day. In 1952, in accordance with the Truman memorandum and the directive of the security department, the National Security Agency (NSA) was created, one of whose tasks was to provide effective unified organization and control of electronic intelligence (i.e., interception of communications passing through other countries’s electronic communications) ), while radio intelligence was still left to the army. From the declassified document: the Department of Defense Directive S-5100.20, "The National Security Agency and the Central Security Service" dated December 23, 1971, you can find out about the relationship of the NSA and CSS (Central Security Service) to electronic intelligence. In particular, it is said about the electronic intelligence program (SIGINT program), the creation and distribution of electronic intelligence assets in accordance with the tasks, requirements and priorities set by the CIA director. In this way, the NSA gains control over the second electronic intelligence component - radio intelligence (ELINT).

Declassified documents of the National Security Agency

Information about the "Echelon", as a rule, is fragmentary, has the character of investigative journalism, gossip and memories. Some information can be gleaned from declassified NSA documents that were examined and made publicly available by Daniel Richelson.
The document of the United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18, "Legal Compliance and Minimization Procedures" dated July 27, 1993, describes the rules and procedures regarding the US Electronic Intelligence System (USS), including the circumstances under which message interception is allowed from or about US citizens. Also, with the help of them, you can trace the connection of the Sugar Grove database with the Echelon system, as first mentioned by James Bamford. In the declassified document "NAVSECGRU Instruction C5450.48A, Subj: Mission, Functions and Tasks of the Naval Security Group Activity (NAVSECGRUACT) Sugar Grove" dated September 3, 1991, the support and use of Echelon is directly mentioned as one of the tasks of the management of the complex. In another document, ““ Activation of Echelon Units, ”from the History of the Air Intelligence Agency, 1 January - 31 December 1994, Volume I (San Antonio, TX: AIA, 1995)” we find mention of the Misawa airbase, Yakima training center, "Bases in western Virginia", bases on the island of Guam, as parts of "Echelon". Thus, from these documents, you can find out that the “Echelon” most likely belong to the bases of Sugar Grove, Yakima, Misawa, Guam. In the last document, the Misava air base is mentioned along with the LADYLOVE operation, which, according to Richelson, was launched during the Cold War and was intercepted by messages from Soviet military satellites (together with Menwith Hill bases - Britain, Bad Aibling - Germany, Rosman - USA), which allows treat them as possible parts of the system.
There are also other sources: numerous publications of journalists Nick Häger (New Zealand) and Duncan Campbell (Great Britain), books of James Bamford. The report of the European Parliament also examined the testimonies of some members of the intelligence services of the participating countries:

Margaret Newham (NSA) - she said she worked for the NSA from 1974 to 1984. In 1977 she was transferred to the Menwith Hill base (in the UK), where she learned about the interception of the negotiations of the US Senator Strom Tarmond. Thus, it can be concluded that at the end of the 70s, Echelon was able to intercept satellite communications from a particular person. According to her, on the base she was engaged in setting up programs and systems on powerful computers, the programs were called SILKWORTH, SIRE. ECHELON was nothing more than a network name.
Wayne Madson (NSA) - according to him, the main purpose of "Echelon" is industrial espionage.
Mike Frost (CSE) - has worked in Canadian intelligence for over 20 years. According to him, the CFS Leitrim database is only part of an extensive network of spy stations. Also, he claims that most telephone conversations, emails and faxes are intercepted by Echelon.
Fred Stoke (CSE) - argues that the data intercepted by "Echelon" are used for industrial espionage, including the sale of French weapons, the purchase of grain by China, etc.

To receive messages from civil communications satellites INTELSAT, INMARSAT, INTERSPUTNIK, antennas of large radius (more than 15 meters) are needed. INTELSAT satellites are mainly located in geostationary orbits. To receive signals from INTELSAT satellites of the first generation, antennas with a radius of 30 meters (now 15-20 meters) were required. It is noteworthy that the Menwith Hill and Sugar Grove bases opened to the orbit of the first INTELSAT satellites. In general, the voiced database list can be used to intercept messages of almost all civil communications satellites (transmitting data at not very high frequencies - there is a simple pattern: the higher the frequency, the smaller the coverage area and the greater the signal power, the first INTELSAT civil satellites had a coverage equal to almost half of the globe and due to the low signal power, large-diameter antennas were needed at satellite stations, as well as at all the mentioned bases), many are officially identified to Radio interception stations, while GCHQ Bude, Yakima and others themselves are located close to the “ordinary” satellite receiving stations. Hardly "Echelon" is able to listen to all telephone conversations and automatically identify key words in speech, however, it can be very effective if you know in advance what to listen to and where. The latter is most convenient in the case of ordinary political, industrial espionage. There is a data exchange (possibly automated) between the intelligence agencies of the participating countries.

How does the "Echelon"

The above-mentioned report of the meeting of the European Parliament contains a list of ground stations, probably being part of the system.
Satellite interception stations:

Australian Defense Satellite Communications Station (has four satellite antennas capable of intercepting communications from international satellites INTELSAT and COMSAT, as well as some Russian, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani satellites). Located near the town of Geraldton in Western Australia.

Australian Defense Satellite Communications Station on Google Maps

Menwith Hill is a British satellite interception station located near the city of Harrogate in north Yorkshire. In the 1970s, it was used to intercept communications from civilian communications satellites over northern Europe. The main task of the station is to collect intelligence for Great Britain, the United States and allied countries.

~~International Congress of satellite antennas of various textures~~ Menwith Hill station in Google Maps

Misawa Air Base, owned by the United States and located in the eponymous city in Japan.

Security Operation Center, comfortably located on a peninsula near the base, so that ~~horseradish you will find~~ it perfectly visible in Google Maps

GCHQ Bude (formerly called Composite Signals Organization Station Morwenstow) is a satellite interception station located on the north coast of Cornwall, UK. It has twenty-one satellite dishes of various sizes. Theoretically, it can listen to the whole main frequency set used for civil and military purposes (from 0.4 to 56 GHz). , (18-30 ) , . , .