Tag Archives: Espionage

Britain, China, Economic, Government, National Security, Politics, United States

Questions to be answered over China’s super-embassy

NATIONAL SECURITY

The construction of the new Chinese “super-embassy” in the heart of London has been a long-running saga, its development plans shrouded in secrecy. Back in 2018, Beijing bought the Royal Mint site – an act whose symbolism was not lost on most Britons – for £255m. Assurances were given that the building would be used for normal diplomatic functions. But when the plans were released, they included a vast basement complex with no obvious purpose. Curiously, the details of the basement were redacted.

The true extent of Beijing’s plan has now been revealed. There will be 208 underground rooms, including a hidden chamber equipped with hot-air extraction systems, one metre away from Britain’s most sensitive communication cables, which transmit financial data to and from the City of London, as well as messaging traffic for millions of internet users.

Even before these revelations came to light, the Chinese plan came with obvious security risks: last year MI5 issued an “espionage alert” about Beijing’s spies targeting MPs and parliamentary staff “at scale”, while the US told Britain to reject the proposal on the grounds that it could effectively become a den of spies working against Western interests.

Planning permission has not yet been granted, but it is widely expected that Sir Keir Starmer will approve the proposal ahead of his visit to China later this month. For many in Britain, the obvious question should loom: why?

Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto promised an audit of Britain’s relationship with China. In the end, only two paragraphs of it were published, in the National Security Strategy. And, as is publicly known, the failure last year to prosecute Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, two alleged spies for China, was because the UK Government was not prepared to provide witnesses willing to describe China as “an enemy”.

Britain is in the economic doldrums, and Starmer is desperately seeking more direct investment for his growth plans. China has slowly been buying up Britain, purchasing UK gilts as well as companies. This leaves the UK vulnerable to pressure from Beijing, which has a record of using debt as leverage. The PM clearly believes Britain needs to be on good terms with China.

However, that shouldn’t stop him quizzing Beijing. If there is nothing to see, why was so much of the plan redacted? Why does a foreign embassy need 208 rooms underground? Why demolish and rebuild the outer basement wall of the secret chamber, directly beside the fibre-optic cables that carry information critical to Britain’s national security and prosperity? And if the embassy is built, what does Britain gain?

These questions need to be satisfactorily answered before the green light is given to build a Chinese super-embassy in London.

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European Union, Government, Intelligence, National Security, United States

U.S. spying report on EU offices has angered European officials…

A report by the U.S. National Security Agency that suggests it spied on EU offices has infuriated European officials.

The European Union has warned that if the report is accurate it will have tremendous and wide reaching repercussions. Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, said he was deeply worried and shocked about the allegations and has stressed that if the allegations prove to be true it would have a severe impact on EU-US relations. Acting on behalf of the European Parliament, Mr Schulz has demanded full clarification and is seeking further information from the U.S. authorities on these allegations.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, the German Justice Minister, said that if the accusations were true that would be reminiscent of the Cold War. The German minister has also asked for an immediate explanation from the United States.

Citing information from secret documents obtained by former NSA employee Edward Snowden, the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported that several U.S. spying operations targeted EU leaders.

Der Spiegel says the documents from Snowden describe how the National Security Agency bugged EU officials’ Washington and New York offices and conducted an ‘electronic eavesdropping operation’ that tapped into an EU building in Brussels.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic operations in the White House, said he had not seen the report and would not comment on unauthorised disclosures of intelligence programs. Mr Rhodes did say, though, that the United States does work very closely with its European partners and has very close intelligence relationships with Europe.

Michael Hayden, a former director of the CIA and NSA, whilst having been out of government for some five years, said he didn’t know whether the report was true. Mr Hayden was clear, however, on a number of points confirming that the United States does conduct espionage and, that in relation to the US’s Fourth Amendment, which protects the privacy of Americans, does not amount to an international treaty. The former CIA director was also reticent about Europeans looking first to what their own governments are doing in respect to international espionage.

Der Spiegel’s report comes at a particularly sensitive time. The first round of negotiations for a trans-Atlantic trade agreement between the United States and the European Union are set to start next month in Washington.

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Britain, Government, Intelligence, United States

Whistleblower and ex-CIA operative breaks cover…

America’s most wanted man has broken cover to reveal why he decided to leak documents from one of the world’s most notorious spy organisations.

Edward Snowden, the former CIA worker, admitted he would be ‘made to suffer’ after triggering shockwaves across the globe by handing over top-secret files from the US National Security Agency (NSA).

The 29-year-old whistleblower, who reputedly earned £130,000 a year, exposed chilling details of how the covert agency, based in Maryland, gathers private information from people around the world –  including in Britain – using a programme called Prism.

The system gives officials easy access to data held by nine of the world’s top internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Skype.

Mr Snowden acted after becoming convinced the US government’s bid to harvest personal information from millions of individuals was a ‘threat to democracy’. He fears he will be kidnapped and returned to America to face espionage charges and possible life in jail.

Mr Snowden had been working at the NSA for the last four years as an employee of defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton after working for the CIA as a technical assistant, specialising in computer security. His role allowed him access to classified material. He fled the United States after handing reporters from the Guardian Newspaper and Washington Post numerous documents from the agency’s computers.

Mr Snowden said:

… I don’t want public attention because I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.

… My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.

In shining a light on the NSA’s widening surveillance net the whistleblower has sacrificed a comfortable lifestyle because, as he says, he can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building. Mr Snowden insists the spy chiefs at the NSA are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them. It is this, he says, which poses a ‘threat to democracy’. He believes this will stifle intellectual exploration and creativity, with the US government granting itself power it is not entitled to.

Mr Snowden fled to Hong Kong on May 20 because of its spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent. The former UK colony, now part of China, could well resist the demands of the White House in apprehending him. However, it is possible that the Chinese government might seize him for questioning about US methods and secrets.

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