If all are enemies, we have no friends
Bush - Obama administrations blurring spying and diplomacy — the breach implied in U.S. embassy cables released over the weekend cannot be expunged by more bullying and belligerence from Washington.
There is apparently great paranoia and continuing recklessness at the highest levels of U.S. government. This government remains at war with the world. When no nation is deemed friend, when other nations and peoples are suspect and routinely subjected to military invasion and occupation and other covert and overt offense; when nations and peoples are held in continuous contempt — who will come to the aid of this solitary power, its nation and people when they are seriously in need?
“The operation targeting the United Nations appears to have involved all of Washington’s main intelligence agencies: the CIA’s clandestine service, the U.S. Secret Service, and the FBI … alongside the U.S Department of State. …” The Guardian in Britain was reporting on Sunday’s release by WikiLeaks of “U.S. Embassy Cables.” These are edited excerpts from the Guardian’s report.
Spying on the world
“A directive from Hillary Clinton ordered U.S. diplomats to gather biometric information on the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
“Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeting the leadership of the United Nations, including the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the permanent UN Security Council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK.
Under U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s name, a July 2009 classified directive “which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying was issued to U.S. diplomats. [The directive] demanded forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications.
“[The directive] called for detailed biometric information ‘on key UN officials, to include undersecretaries, heads of specialized agencies and their chief advisers, top SYG [Secretary General] aides, heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders’ as well as intelligence on [Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s] ‘management and decision-making style and his influence on the secretariat.’
“A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data included DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.
“Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and ‘biographic and biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives.’
“The secret ‘national human intelligence collection directive’ was sent to U.S. missions at the UN in New York, Vienna and Rome; 33 embassies and consulates, including those in London, Paris and Moscow.
“The operation targeted at the UN appears to have involved all of Washington’s main intelligence agencies. The CIA’s clandestine service, the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI were included in the ‘reporting and collection needs’ cable alongside the U.S. State Department under the heading ‘collection requirements and tasking.’”
Questions of impunity, law and lawlessness
“The leak of the directive is likely to spark questions about the legality of the [U.S. State Department] operation and about whether State Department diplomats are expected to spy,” Guardian editors wrote.
“The level of technical and personal detail demanded about the UN top team’s communication systems could be seen as laying the groundwork for surveillance or hacking operations.
“The level of technical and personal detail demanded about the UN top team’s communication systems could be seen as laying the groundwork for surveillance or hacking operations.
“It requested ‘current technical specifications, physical layout and planned upgrades to telecommunications infrastructure and information systems, networks and technologies used by top officials and their support staff,’ as well as details on private networks used for official communication, ‘to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys and virtual private network versions used.’
“Citing the 1946 UN convention on privileges and immunities which states: ‘The premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial or legislative action’ — the United Nations has previously asserted that bugging the Secretary General is illegal’
“The 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which covers the UN, also states, ‘the official correspondence of the mission shall be inviolable.’
“The emergence of the directive also risks undermining political trust between the United Nations leadership and the United States…”
Friend or foe
If everyone is our enemy, we have no friends
“The UN is not the only target. The cables reveal that since 2008 the U.S. State Department has issued at least nine directives to embassies around the world which set forth ‘a list of priorities intended to guide participating U.S. government agencies as they allocate resources and update plans to collect information.’
“The directives are packed with detailed orders and, while embassy staff members are particularly encouraged to assist in compiling biographic information, the directive on the mineral and oil-rich Great Lakes region of Africa requested detailed military intelligence, including weapons markings and plans of army bases.
“A directive on ‘Palestinian issues’ sent to Cairo, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Amman, Damascus and Riyadh demanded the exact travel plans and vehicles used by leading members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, without explaining why.
“In one directive that would test the initiative — never mind moral and legal scruples — of any diplomat, Washington ordered staff in the [Democratic of Congo], Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to obtain biometric information of leading figures in business, politics, intelligence, military, religion and in key ethnic groups.
“Fingerprints and photographs are collected as part of embassies’ consular and visa operations, but it is harder to see how diplomats could justify obtaining DNA samples and iris scans.
“In central Africa, embassy officials were ordered to gather details about countries’ military relations with China, Libya, North Korea, Iran and Russia. Washington assigned high priority to intelligence on the ‘transfer of strategic materials such as uranium,’ and ‘details of arms acquisitions and arms sales by government or insurgents, including negotiations, contracts, deliveries, terms of sale, quantity and quality of equipment, and price and payment terms.’
“The directives, signed simply ‘Clinton’ or ‘Rice,’ referring to the current and former U.S. secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice, form a central plank of America's intelligence effort and reveal how Washington is using its 11,500-strong foreign service to glean highly sensitive information on both allies and enemies.…”
Sources and notes
The U.S. embassy cables: U.S. diplomats spied on UN leadership, guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 28, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un?intcmp=239
Also: Democracy Now program, Monday, November 29, 2010, http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2010/11/29
AMY GOODMAN:
“ I’m looking at The Guardian, one of the participants in the WikiLeaks release: ‘Washington running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the permanent Security Council representatives from China, Russia, France, and the U.K. The classified directive, which appears to [have been] issued to U.S. diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding forensic technical details about the communication systems used by top UN officials including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and commercial networks for official communications. It called for detailed biometric information on key UN officials to include undersecretaries, heads of specialized agencies and their chief advisers, top SIG- that’s Secretary General Aides- heads of peace operations and political field missions, including force commanders, as well as intelligence on Ban’s management and decision making style and his influence on the secretariat. A parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and biometric data including DNA, fingerprints and iris scans.’”UN Security Council Membership in 2010
The Council is composed of five permanent members — China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States— and 10 non-permanent members (with year of term’s end):
- Austria (2010)
- Japan (2010)
- Turkey (2010)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (2011)
- Lebanon (2011)
- Uganda (2010)
- Brazil (2011)
- Mexico (2010)
- Gabon (2011)
- Nigeria (2011)
The Presidency of the Security Council is held in turn by the members of the Security Council in the English alphabetical order of their names. Each President holds office for one calendar month.
Ten non-permanent members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms and are not eligible for immediate reelection. The number of non-permanent members was increased from six to ten by an amendment of the Charter, which came into force in 1965.
Under the Charter, all Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council. While other organs of the United Nations make recommendations to Governments, the Council alone has the power to take decisions which Member States are obligated under the Charter to carry out, http://www.un.org/sc/members.asp
The United Nations is comprised of 192 Member States, http://www.un.org/en/m
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