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EDWARD SNOWDEN

Norway daily: Guardian right in Snowden scandal

Norway's Aftenposten has labelled the detention and criminal investigation of the partner of a Guardian journalist as "harassment" in an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron as the fallout from whistleblower Edward Snowden revealing security secrets continues

Norway daily: Guardian right in Snowden scandal

Hilde Haugsgjerd, Executive editor-in-chief of Aftenposten, along with three other editors of Nordic titles have published the letter in today's Observer newspaper. The media quartet said there is "deep concern" that recent events in Britain potentially threaten press freedom.

David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, was detained by British police for nine hours last week in Heathrow Airport en route to Brazil. The Brazilian citizen had his laptop and other personal items seized after being held under terror laws.

Greenwald has previously written several exclusive stories about US intelligence agencies using material leaked by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In an extract from the letter they write; "We are surprised by the recent acts by officials of your government against our colleagues at the Guardian and deeply concerned that a stout defender of democracy and free debate like the United Kingdom uses anti-terror legislation in order to legalise what amounts to harassment of both the paper and individuals associated with it."

Haugsgjerd, together with Bo Lidegaard of Denmark's Politiken, Peter Wolodarski of Sweden's Dagens Nyheter and Riikka Venäläinen of Finland's Helsingin Sanomat, add in the letter that it is "deeply disturbing" that British police have since announced a criminal investigation.

They added; "The implication of these acts may have ramifications far beyond the borders of the UK, undermining the position of the free press throughout the world.

The four leading editors concluded their opinion editorial calling on Britain's Prime Minister to "reinstall your government among the leading defenders of the free press and an open debate in accordance with the proud tradition of your country."

The news comes in the wake of reports that the American National Security Agency are unsure how much data Snowden took as he has covered his digital tracks. Snowden is currently in Russia where the government has granted him asylum.
 

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ESPIONAGE

Europe demands answers after US-Danish spying claims

France warned Monday that alleged US spying on European allies using Danish underwater cables would be "extremely serious" if confirmed, as questions mounted over whether Denmark knew what the US was doing.

Europe demands answers after US-Danish spying claims
A file photo showing military area Kastellet in Copenhagen. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

In an investigative report on Sunday, Danish public broadcaster DR revealed together with several other European media outlets that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had eavesdropped on Danish underwater internet cables from 2012 to 2014 to spy on top politicians in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France.

The NSA was able to access text messages, telephone calls and internet traffic including searches, chats and messaging services — including those of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, then-foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then-opposition leader Peer Steinbrück, DR said.

“It is extremely serious,” France’s Europe Minister Clement Beaune told France Info radio.

“We need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services.”

He added it would also be very disturbing if Washington had been spying on EU leaders.

“Between allies, there must be trust, a minimal cooperation, so these potential facts are serious,” said the minister.

He said the facts must first “be verified” and then “conclusions drawn in terms of cooperation”.

Denmark’s neighbours Sweden and Norway have also demanded explanations from Copenhagen, though the tone has been more cautious.

And a German government spokesman said Monday that Berlin was “in contact with all relevant national and international interlocutors to get clarification”.

DR said the NSA had taken advantage of a surveillance collaboration with Denmark’s military intelligence unit FE to eavesdrop on the cables.

But it was unclear whether Denmark knew at the time that the US was using the cables to spy on Denmark’s neighbours.

Contacted by AFP, FE refused to comment on the revelations.

Defence Minister Trine Bramsen, who took over the defence portfolio in June 2019, has neither confirmed nor denied DR’s report, telling AFP only that “systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable”.

US eavesdropping on European leaders is, however, not new.

In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed thousands of classified documents exposing the vast US surveillance put in place after the September 11th, 2001 attacks.

Among other things, the documents showed the US government was spying on its own citizens and carrying out widespread tapping worldwide, including of Merkel’s mobile phone.

However, if the Danish-US spying is confirmed, it went on during and after the 2013 Snowden affair.

In 2014, following the Snowden scandal, a secret internal working group at FE began looking into whether the NSA had used a Danish-US spying collaboration — called XKeyscore — to spy on Denmark’s allies, DR said.

The group’s report, codenamed Operation Dunhammer, was presented to top FE management in May 2015.

What happened after that is not yet known.

Bramsen was however informed of the spying in August 2020, according to DR.

Shortly after that, FE director Lars Findsen, his predecessor who was in the post until 2015 Thomas Ahrenkiel, and three other FE employees were removed from their positions but no full explanation was made public.

At the time, the government said an audit had raised suspicions that FE was conducting illegal surveillance between 2014 and 2020.

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In November 2020, DR revealed that the US had used the Danish cables to spy on the Danish and European defence industries from 2012 to 2015.

Snowden, who now lives in Russia, called on Twitter for “full public disclosure” from Denmark and the US.

The latest revelations are “new pieces of the puzzle,” Thomas Wegener Friis, an intelligence expert and professor at the University of Southern Denmark, told AFP.

“It’s exactly the same kind of scandal as the one with German services helping the Americans to spy a few years ago,” he added.

Denmark is one of the United States’ closest European allies and sent troops to fight in Iraq.

It is the only Nordic country that is both a member of NATO and the EU.

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