- The European Parliament's report into the network that
snoops on civilian communications gives some useful clues on how to spot
Echelon bases
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- In its draft report into the Echelon communications interception
network, the European Parliament provided a guide to identifying Echelon
listening stations.
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- Most Echelon stations are, according to rapporteur Gerhard
Schmid, operated by the US National Security Agency (NSA) or, in the case
of the UK, by the Air Force on behalf of the British GCHQ intelligence
service.
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- One such installation is RAF Menwith Hill, which is owned
by the UK Ministry of Defence, and made available to the US Department
of Defence as a communications facility. The station chief is provided
by the NSA, and last summer there were 415 US military staff at RAF Menwith
Hill, compared with just five UK military staff.
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- The main difference between sites such as Menwith Hill
and other installations operated by civilian bodies such as the Post Office,
BT, broadcasters or research institutions are that the latter group are
open to visitors -- at least by appointment. Interception stations are
not.
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- The other important differences lie in the type of antennae
used and their size. A military site such as Menwith Hill will have various
types of antennae: arrangements of tall rod antennae in a large-diameter
circle (Wullenweber antennae), for example, are used for locating the direction
of radio signals; circular arrangements of rhombic-shaped antennae (Pusher
antennae) serve the same purpose; while omnidirectional antennae, which
look like giant conventional TV antennae, are used to intercept non-directional
radio signals.
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- But only parabolic antennae are used to receive satellite
signals. If the parabolic antennae are standing on an open site, it is
possible to calculate which satellite is being received. Most often parabolic
antennae are concealed under spherical white covers known as radomes: these
protect the antennae, but also conceal which direction they are pointing
in.
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- "If parabolic antennae or radomes are positioned
on an intercepting station site," says Schmid in his report, "one
may be certain that they are receiving signals from satellites, though
this does not prove what type of signals these are".
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- Schmid goes on to single out military-run sites that
are closed to the public and which have large parabolic antennae, with
diameters of around 30 inches. "As far as your rapporteur knows there
is no military application for antennae of this size," he says. "Consequently,
if they are found on a site [run by the military with no public access],
it may be concluded that civilian satellite communications are being intercepted
on that site."
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- The reason that the European Parliament's own raporteur
had to work on clues such as the type and size of antennae is that there
is still no official statement by the foreign intelligence services of
the Echelon global interception system.
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