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| NSA and GCHQ Spied on OPEC | ||
| 2013-11-12 | ||
In January 2008, the NSA department in charge of energy issues reported it had accomplished its mission. Intelligence information about individual petroleum-exporting countries had existed before then, but now the NSA had managed, for the first time, to infiltrate OPEC in its entirety. When the NSA used the Internet to infiltrate OPEC's computers, its analysts discovered an internal study in the OPEC Research Division. It stated that OPEC officials were trying to cast the blame for high oil prices on speculators. A look at files in the OPEC legal department revealed how the organization was preparing itself for an antitrust suit in the United States. And a review of the section reserved for the OPEC secretary general documented that the Saudis were using underhanded tactics, even within the organization. According to the NSA analysts, Riyadh had tried to keep an increase in oil production a secret for as long as possible. Saudi Arabia's OPEC governor is also on the list of individuals targeted for surveillance, for which the NSA had secured approval from the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The documents show how careful the Americans were to suspend their surveillance when the Saudi visited the United States. But as soon as he had returned to Riyadh, the NSA analysts began infiltrating his communications once again. According to a 2010 report, one of the analysts' conclusions was that the Saudis had released incorrect oil production figures. The typical "customers" for such information were the CIA, the US State Department and the Department of Energy, which promptly praised the NSA for confirming what it had suspected for years. The British, who also targeted OPEC's Vienna headquarters, were at least as successful as the NSA. A secret GCHQ document dating from 2010 states that the agency had traditionally had "poor access" to OPEC. But that year, after a long period of meticulous work, it had managed to infiltrate the computers of nine OPEC employees by using the "Quantum Insert" method, which then creates a gateway to gain access into OPEC's computer system. GCHQ analysts were even able to acquire administrator privileges for the OPEC network and gain access to two secret servers containing "many documents of interest."
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Are these writers/reporters morons in that they cannot differentiate between the two? Sorry OS but they can't differentiate between the two. Most reporters now consider themselves "citizens of the world" and superior to any archaic nationalist or legal ideas. They aren't easily classified with a particular ideology other than their self appointed elitism. They are part of the ELITE and superior to all others. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-11-12 10:29 |
| #3 No, the reporters are apparently from the era when gentlemen did not read other gentlemen's mail. Of course, the would also be the first to scream that the government should have been aware of the terrorist plots before they happened. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2013-11-12 09:44 |
| #2 Did they get free copies of Microsoft Encarta? |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-11-12 01:41 |
| #1 Umm, so what? THIS is what they are supposed to do! Not spy domestically, but on the external worlds. Are these writers/reporters morons in that they cannot differentiate between the two? |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2013-11-12 01:17 |