#12
Vremya Novostei
September 4, 2002
THE PENTAGON'S EYE
The US is expanding its Echelon spy network
Author: Nikolai Poroskov
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]
THE DEFENSE MINISTRY SAYS THAT BUILDING AN AMERICAN RADAR STATION IN LATVIA
COULD ENDANGER THE SECURITY OF NORTH-WESTERN EUROPE. RUSSIAN STRATEGISTS ARE
ALREADY REGRETTING SHUTTING DOWN THE RADIO INTELLIGENCE STATION AT LOURDES,
CUBA, AND ARE ACCUSING THE US OF INCONSISTENCY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS.
The US is building a powerful radar tracking station in the south of Latvia,
which will be able to trace high-speed short-range flights, including various
warheads. The radar station, produced by Lockheed Martin, was to have been
installed near Daugavpiles, where a Soviet anti-aircraft regiment was located
until the early 1990s. The radar station is well protected from passive and
active obstacles, and has a very impressive capacity: it is able to detect an
object at a distance of 1,000 kilometers and a height of over 20 kilometers.
Once the radar station is installed, it will be connected to the global
observation network. The information form the new station will be sent to the
Manvis Hill reconnaissance and information center in Britain, which codes the
information for the Echelon global automatic electronic signal interception
system. Echelon was created during the Cold War by the US, Britain, Canada,
Australia, and New Zealand. Today it is a developed network of satellites, over
20 land stations, and super-computers that are able to process about 3 billion
messages a day (all kinds of phone calls, faxes, and e-mails are being
intercepted and read). Key words are used for "catching" the necessary
information from this powerful torrent. Even the Russian Doctrine on
Informational Security mentions the danger of this spy network.
At the same time, Russia is not letting it be widely known that it also has a
system similar to Echelon. It is the System of United Registration of Enemy Data
(SURD) that has existed since 1979 and is controlled by the State Intelligence
Department and the FAGLI.
The Defense Ministry says that development of the radar station in Latvia
could endanger the security of north-western Europe. Russian strategists are
already regretting shutting down the radio intelligence station at Lourdes,
Cuba, and are accusing the US of inconsistency and double standards. Moreover,
in the near future the Pentagon plans to locate two more radar stations of the
same type in Latvia and Estonia; hence it will steadily continue
"squeezing" Russia from all directions.
(Translated by Arina Yevtikhova)
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