For several decades, intelligence agencies in the United States and Germany monitored secret correspondence from over 120 countries using cryptographic devices from the Swiss company Crypto AG, according to The Washington Post and German television station ZDF. They cite data on a secret CIA operation, the Rubicon.
From the materials it follows that Crypto AG collaborated with intelligence agencies in the US and Germany. The Swiss company left “holes” in the code for encrypting devices that tens of countries bought from the middle of the 20th century. Thus, the CIA, together with German foreign intelligence (BND), gained access to military and diplomatic correspondence of foreign states.
It is reported that the United States and its allies for many years used the secrets of other countries. However, American intelligence did not have access to classified information of China and the USSR, since the socialist countries did not use the products of Crypto AG.
Member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Major General of the FSB in reserve, Alexander Mikhailov, in an interview with RT, noted that the topic of American surveillance of other countries is not new in itself.
“This is another confirmation that there are no forbidden topics for Washington and the concept of some kind of allied relations also does not exist. They have national interests, they completely control the intelligence services of Western Europe, they interact quite actively with them in terms of obtaining intelligence and exercising control over politicians, ”the expert noted.
According to him, this information was perhaps a surprise only for Switzerland.
- AFP
- © globallookpress.com
Recall that earlier, the Swiss television company RTS, citing the Ministry of Defense, said that Bern will conduct its own investigation to find out the role of the Swiss company in espionage scandal. The investigation was entrusted to former federal judge Nicklaus Oberholzer.
Violation of international law
Monitoring communications of other countries is a violation of international law, because each country has the right to sovereignty, explained RT international lawyer, honorary lawyer of Russia Valery Vanin. According to him, if the facts of surveillance are confirmed, in theory it would be possible to bring the United States to justice as the country organizing the illegal activities.
“The United States does not recognize the decision of the international criminal court. This was done so that US soldiers would not be involved for the crimes that they commit in other states, ”Vanin said.
According to the lawyer, it is possible to punish specific officials potentially involved in this case only by making a decision at the state level. At the international level, there are other ways.
“You can punish them (USA . - RT ) with weapons that the United States and Switzerland recognize as effective, in particular, the mechanism of sanctions against states, or organizations and individuals. If specific officials are identified, it is possible to impose sanctions on them, ”the expert concluded.
According to Vanin, the new reports of surveillance by the US are "a continuation of the revelations made by Assange and Snowden."
Snowden himself has already commented on publications on his microblog on Twitter.
- Reuters
- © Sergei Karpukhin
"Journalists who pick up the topic of this article should consider a burning issue that the Washington Post didn’t touch on in some inexplicable way: how did the intelligence community (USA. - RT) move from sabotaging encrypted communications with foreign intermediaries to corrupt American companies like RSA?" - wrote Snowden.
He referred to materials published by Reuters in December 2013. The article reports that the NSA and the company RSA, which implements the cryptographic algorithm used in many computer products, entered into a secret agreement for $ 10 million. Thus, RSA, like Crypto AG, left a back door in its products for that. so that the security services have access to encrypted data.
According to the assessment of Major General of the FSB in the reserve, Alexander Mikhailov, Washington has long been practicing tracking and there are no barriers to it.
“US expansion in the intelligence field is off the charts. New technologies that allow more efficient access are actively used. And many technologies are simply being developed for this, ”he emphasized.
Mikhailov emphasized that even the first persons of the state were not protected from US surveillance, recalling the case of wiretapping of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone. Information about this was published by WikiLeaks in 2015. At the same time, according to whistleblowers, surveillance of German leaders has been carried out since the days of Gerhard Schroeder and Helmut Kohl.