https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/hemmelige-rapporter-usa-spionerede-mod-danske-ministerier-og-forsvarsindustri
The Treasury Department, State Department and defense company Terma were targets of U.S. espionage, sources said.
The US intelligence agency NSA exploited a top-secret Danish-American spy operation to purposefully spy on key ministries and private companies in Denmark.
These are the sensational conclusions of a number of strictly confidential reports made around 2015 by an internal whistleblower in the Defence Intelligence Agency (FE).
The reports warned fe's management of possible illegalities in an intelligence cooperation between Denmark and the United States to tap Danish internet cables for information that the intelligence services could use in their work.In addition to the warnings of US espionage against Denmark, the whistleblower also warned in the reports about NSA spying against targets in a number of our very closest neighbours, including Sweden.
This is learned BY News, which has spoken to several independent sources who have access to the reports.- The NSA has used the cable cooperation to target espionage against Denmark's closest allies and in the past also against Danish interests and targets, says a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.- NSA uses cooperation with FE to spy on Danish targets.It discovers an employee who goes to the bosses with that knowledge, says another source.
The sources spoken by DR News cite the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the defense company Terma in Aarhus, as some of the targets of suspected US spy ing through the Danish-American spy cooperation.
Denmark's nearest neighbours – notably Sweden, Germany, France, but also Norway and the Netherlands – are also mentioned as targets.- Undermines security It has not been possible for DR News to determine whether fe's management acted on the basis of the whistleblower's reports.
But it is clearly contrary to fe's purposes if the FE granted the NSA access to, or otherwise enabled, that Americans could spy on the american social institutions and the defense industry, two leading experts in the field say.-
It is basically appalling because the authority that was supposed to protect Denmark together with PET, thus
– in isolation – is helping to undermine the security of Denmark's vital interests, says Jens Elo Rytter, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Copenhagen.
- Under Danish law, a foreign intelligence service is of course not allowed to spy on Denmark in such a way that one obtains insight into military information or politically sensitive information, says Professor emeritus of criminal law at the University of Copenhagen Jørn Vestergaard.
Spied on Danish fighter jet supplier
The new information adds another piece to the sensational case of possible wrongdoing in the FE.
A case that began to roll in August this year, when the intelligence agency issued a press release with historically harsh criticism of fe.
DR News has previously revealed that it is precisely the top-secret spy ing cooperation with the NSA that in August sparked fierce criticism from the oversight.
It is new, however, that the NSA, through spying, has targeted – and according to the experts, illegal – has spied directly against Danish interests and targets in the nearest neighbouring countries.
One source cites as an example that the NSA would have "nose down in Terma prior to Denmark's purchase of new fighter jets" in 2015 and 2016, when Denmark made the final decision on the billion-dollar purchase of new fighter jets to replace the aging fleet of F-16s.Here, the choice fell on the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for which the defense company Terma supplies components.
- It's a tuxedo gun. Terma has been targeted, a source said.- These are searches that point directly to specific employees in Terma.The NSA has put keywords into the system that show they have searched for specific email addresses and phone numbers belonging to Terma, the source said.
According to DR News, the searches took place in an extremely advanced spy program called Xkeyscore.The information that the intelligence services can seek through the spy programme is not something that the rest of us can search on the Internet.
For example, it can be the content of an email correspondence, browsing history, what people write in iM conversations, or information about who calls whom.
That is, communication that flows 24 hours a day through a global network of data cables and, among other things, passes through Denmark.
Here sea cables go to and from Denmark. see link..
Spying on fighter jets.
According to DR News, the whistleblower's reports also show that the NSA has used the Danish-American spysystem for searches of the pan-European eurofighter and the Swedish fighter jet Saab-Gripen.
Both aircraft have been part of the race to be chosen as Denmark's new fighter aircraft.A process that has been going on for decades and which, at the time of the alleged espionage, entered its final phase.
It has not been possible for DR News to determine exactly what information the NSA was looking for or how, if so, the US secret service may have used the information about the combat aircraft companies.
Data center built for the purpose.
According to DR News, the whistle-blower has prepared or helped to prepare at least two internal reports on the disputed matters.
Sources say the reports include evidence of how the NSA used the spy program Xkeyscore to spy on the Danish targets and targets in Denmark's closest neighbours.
Both the NSA and FE have access to the program, which makes it possible to search and select in the huge amounts of data that are tapped from the Danish communication cables and stored in a data center that FE listed for the purpose of American assistance in fe's department at Sandagergård on the southern tip of Amager.
THE FACTS: How Denmark banned spying.
Den hårde spionageparagraf kan komme i brug, hvis man har spioneret mod statshemmeligheder eller andre fortrolige oplysninger af stor samfundsmæssig betydning, eller hvis man har videregivet oplysninger af en sådan karakter. Strafferammen er uden for krigstid op til 16 års fængsel.
•Den milde spionageparagraf kan komme i brug, hvis man hjælper en fremmed efterretningstjeneste med at skaffe oplysninger, der kan misbruges. Strafferammen er op til seks års fængsel.
•Det er FE, der sammen med PET skal beskytte Danmark og danske interesser mod spionage.
Spied on ministries.
One of the whistleblower's reports is, according to DR News' 2015 information.According to DR News' information, the front page states that the report was read by the FE's then boss and the head of collection.
Until the end of 2015, the HEAD of the FE was the now repatriated Thomas Ahrenkiel, who later became head of department at the Ministry of Defence.
The chief of staff, who is now also relieved of his position at the FE, is a senior army officer.According to DR News' information, the report provides an analysis of the selectors – or keywords – that the NSA has encoded in the Xkeyscore spy program in 2012 and 2015 for targeted electronic retrieval of specific targets.
According to DR News' sources, the analysis of the selectors from 2012 reveals that the NSA at this time used or had used the Danish-American spy cooperation to spy on Danish targets and interests, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.
According to DR News' data, the analysis of the selectors from 2015 reveals that the NSA used the spy system at the time to spy on targets in Denmark's very closest neighbour, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway and the Netherlands.
According to the experts, the new information could strain Denmark's relationship with its closest neighbours.- I would not like to be the political decision-maker who would have to tell my colleagues in Germany or Sweden that 'unfortunately, we have now learned that the Americans have used an access with us to spy on you', says Professor Jens Ringsmose of the University of Southern Denmark.
FACTS: What are selectors?
• The intelligence agencies use selectors to search for information of interest to their work.• For example, a selector might be an email address, a phone number, or the identification number of a phone.Intelligence agencies can also search for specific words or phrases.
• For example, the search result may be the content of chat and email conversations or information about where people are located.
• The goal is, for example, to identify how, when, with whom, about what and where a person communicates.
Several criticisms are as yet unknown
The criticism of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service has become a deeply sensitive case at Christiansborg, after Defense Minister Trine Bramsen (Social Democrat) in August received a four-volume long and strictly confidential investigation from the Intelligence Services, which is based in part on material from the internal FE whistleblower.
At the same time, the Supervisory Authority issued a press release with harsh criticism of fe.
Among other things, the press release states that the material provided by the whistleblower indicates that FE's management "has failed to follow up on or investigate any indications of espionage within the territory of the Ministry of Defence."However, not all criticisms of the supervisory authority appear in the press release.According to DR News' information, further information on espionage against Danish targets is included in the four-volume investigation that the inspectorate gave to the Defense Minister.
Meeting the investigation with calm
The repatriated FE chief Lars Findsen, who headed the intelligence service from 2015 to August this year, said in a written comment to DR News that he calmly awaits "any investigation that can ensure that we get all around" about the issues criticised by the Intelligence Services.
, which has had to look at their important and both nationally and internationally respected work.DR News has requested an interview with Defense Minister Trine Bramsen (Social Democrat), Terma, former FE chief Thomas Ahrenkiel, the repatriated head of collection, acting FE chief Svend Larsen, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NSA.None of them want to run for an interview on the matter.Eurofighter and the Ministry of Finance have not responded to DR News' request.
The Intelligence Community has no comment.
FACTS: Therefore, we do not bring the names of the sources
• Due to the sensitive nature of the matter, the sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
• A number of former and current FE employees have been relieved of duty in connection with the case.As it is not determined whether the repatriated FE staff have done anything illegal, DR News has chosen to bring only the names of the top chiefs confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.
The Treasury Department, State Department and defense company Terma were targets of U.S. espionage, sources said.
The US intelligence agency NSA exploited a top-secret Danish-American spy operation to purposefully spy on key ministries and private companies in Denmark.
These are the sensational conclusions of a number of strictly confidential reports made around 2015 by an internal whistleblower in the Defence Intelligence Agency (FE).
The reports warned fe's management of possible illegalities in an intelligence cooperation between Denmark and the United States to tap Danish internet cables for information that the intelligence services could use in their work.In addition to the warnings of US espionage against Denmark, the whistleblower also warned in the reports about NSA spying against targets in a number of our very closest neighbours, including Sweden.
This is learned BY News, which has spoken to several independent sources who have access to the reports.- The NSA has used the cable cooperation to target espionage against Denmark's closest allies and in the past also against Danish interests and targets, says a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.- NSA uses cooperation with FE to spy on Danish targets.It discovers an employee who goes to the bosses with that knowledge, says another source.
The sources spoken by DR News cite the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the defense company Terma in Aarhus, as some of the targets of suspected US spy ing through the Danish-American spy cooperation.
Denmark's nearest neighbours – notably Sweden, Germany, France, but also Norway and the Netherlands – are also mentioned as targets.- Undermines security It has not been possible for DR News to determine whether fe's management acted on the basis of the whistleblower's reports.
But it is clearly contrary to fe's purposes if the FE granted the NSA access to, or otherwise enabled, that Americans could spy on the american social institutions and the defense industry, two leading experts in the field say.-
It is basically appalling because the authority that was supposed to protect Denmark together with PET, thus
– in isolation – is helping to undermine the security of Denmark's vital interests, says Jens Elo Rytter, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Copenhagen.
- Under Danish law, a foreign intelligence service is of course not allowed to spy on Denmark in such a way that one obtains insight into military information or politically sensitive information, says Professor emeritus of criminal law at the University of Copenhagen Jørn Vestergaard.
Spied on Danish fighter jet supplier
The new information adds another piece to the sensational case of possible wrongdoing in the FE.
A case that began to roll in August this year, when the intelligence agency issued a press release with historically harsh criticism of fe.
DR News has previously revealed that it is precisely the top-secret spy ing cooperation with the NSA that in August sparked fierce criticism from the oversight.
It is new, however, that the NSA, through spying, has targeted – and according to the experts, illegal – has spied directly against Danish interests and targets in the nearest neighbouring countries.
One source cites as an example that the NSA would have "nose down in Terma prior to Denmark's purchase of new fighter jets" in 2015 and 2016, when Denmark made the final decision on the billion-dollar purchase of new fighter jets to replace the aging fleet of F-16s.Here, the choice fell on the U.S. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for which the defense company Terma supplies components.
- It's a tuxedo gun. Terma has been targeted, a source said.- These are searches that point directly to specific employees in Terma.The NSA has put keywords into the system that show they have searched for specific email addresses and phone numbers belonging to Terma, the source said.
According to DR News, the searches took place in an extremely advanced spy program called Xkeyscore.The information that the intelligence services can seek through the spy programme is not something that the rest of us can search on the Internet.
For example, it can be the content of an email correspondence, browsing history, what people write in iM conversations, or information about who calls whom.
That is, communication that flows 24 hours a day through a global network of data cables and, among other things, passes through Denmark.
Here sea cables go to and from Denmark. see link..
Spying on fighter jets.
According to DR News, the whistleblower's reports also show that the NSA has used the Danish-American spysystem for searches of the pan-European eurofighter and the Swedish fighter jet Saab-Gripen.
Both aircraft have been part of the race to be chosen as Denmark's new fighter aircraft.A process that has been going on for decades and which, at the time of the alleged espionage, entered its final phase.
It has not been possible for DR News to determine exactly what information the NSA was looking for or how, if so, the US secret service may have used the information about the combat aircraft companies.
Data center built for the purpose.
According to DR News, the whistle-blower has prepared or helped to prepare at least two internal reports on the disputed matters.
Sources say the reports include evidence of how the NSA used the spy program Xkeyscore to spy on the Danish targets and targets in Denmark's closest neighbours.
Both the NSA and FE have access to the program, which makes it possible to search and select in the huge amounts of data that are tapped from the Danish communication cables and stored in a data center that FE listed for the purpose of American assistance in fe's department at Sandagergård on the southern tip of Amager.
THE FACTS: How Denmark banned spying.
Den hårde spionageparagraf kan komme i brug, hvis man har spioneret mod statshemmeligheder eller andre fortrolige oplysninger af stor samfundsmæssig betydning, eller hvis man har videregivet oplysninger af en sådan karakter. Strafferammen er uden for krigstid op til 16 års fængsel.
•Den milde spionageparagraf kan komme i brug, hvis man hjælper en fremmed efterretningstjeneste med at skaffe oplysninger, der kan misbruges. Strafferammen er op til seks års fængsel.
•Det er FE, der sammen med PET skal beskytte Danmark og danske interesser mod spionage.
Spied on ministries.
One of the whistleblower's reports is, according to DR News' 2015 information.According to DR News' information, the front page states that the report was read by the FE's then boss and the head of collection.
Until the end of 2015, the HEAD of the FE was the now repatriated Thomas Ahrenkiel, who later became head of department at the Ministry of Defence.
The chief of staff, who is now also relieved of his position at the FE, is a senior army officer.According to DR News' information, the report provides an analysis of the selectors – or keywords – that the NSA has encoded in the Xkeyscore spy program in 2012 and 2015 for targeted electronic retrieval of specific targets.
According to DR News' sources, the analysis of the selectors from 2012 reveals that the NSA at this time used or had used the Danish-American spy cooperation to spy on Danish targets and interests, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.
According to DR News' data, the analysis of the selectors from 2015 reveals that the NSA used the spy system at the time to spy on targets in Denmark's very closest neighbour, Sweden, Germany, France, Norway and the Netherlands.
According to the experts, the new information could strain Denmark's relationship with its closest neighbours.- I would not like to be the political decision-maker who would have to tell my colleagues in Germany or Sweden that 'unfortunately, we have now learned that the Americans have used an access with us to spy on you', says Professor Jens Ringsmose of the University of Southern Denmark.
FACTS: What are selectors?
• The intelligence agencies use selectors to search for information of interest to their work.• For example, a selector might be an email address, a phone number, or the identification number of a phone.Intelligence agencies can also search for specific words or phrases.
• For example, the search result may be the content of chat and email conversations or information about where people are located.
• The goal is, for example, to identify how, when, with whom, about what and where a person communicates.
Several criticisms are as yet unknown
The criticism of the Danish Defence Intelligence Service has become a deeply sensitive case at Christiansborg, after Defense Minister Trine Bramsen (Social Democrat) in August received a four-volume long and strictly confidential investigation from the Intelligence Services, which is based in part on material from the internal FE whistleblower.
At the same time, the Supervisory Authority issued a press release with harsh criticism of fe.
Among other things, the press release states that the material provided by the whistleblower indicates that FE's management "has failed to follow up on or investigate any indications of espionage within the territory of the Ministry of Defence."However, not all criticisms of the supervisory authority appear in the press release.According to DR News' information, further information on espionage against Danish targets is included in the four-volume investigation that the inspectorate gave to the Defense Minister.
Meeting the investigation with calm
The repatriated FE chief Lars Findsen, who headed the intelligence service from 2015 to August this year, said in a written comment to DR News that he calmly awaits "any investigation that can ensure that we get all around" about the issues criticised by the Intelligence Services.
, which has had to look at their important and both nationally and internationally respected work.DR News has requested an interview with Defense Minister Trine Bramsen (Social Democrat), Terma, former FE chief Thomas Ahrenkiel, the repatriated head of collection, acting FE chief Svend Larsen, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NSA.None of them want to run for an interview on the matter.Eurofighter and the Ministry of Finance have not responded to DR News' request.
The Intelligence Community has no comment.
FACTS: Therefore, we do not bring the names of the sources
• Due to the sensitive nature of the matter, the sources spoke on condition of anonymity.
• A number of former and current FE employees have been relieved of duty in connection with the case.As it is not determined whether the repatriated FE staff have done anything illegal, DR News has chosen to bring only the names of the top chiefs confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.
(post is archived)