623 Most Western newspapers censor Le Monde report blaming Mossad (not NSA) for hacking Sarkozy's phone

Most Western newspapers censor Le Monde report blaming Mossad (not NSA)
for hacking Sarkozy's phone

Newsletter published on 18 November 2013

(1) Most Western newspapers censor Le Monde report blaming Mossad (not
NSA) for hacking Sarkozy's phone
(2) Le Monde: NSA blames Mossad (& ISNU, its cyber-intelligence unit)
for hacking Sarkozy's phone
(3) Radio France: It's not us it's Israel, US told France over 2012
presidential snooping
(4) UK Daily Mail: Le Monde says it was Israeli agents who hacked
Sarkozy's phone, not the NSA
(5) Global Post (citing AFP): France feared US hacked president, was
Israel involved?
(6) Jerusalem Post: report says Mossad may have hacked Sarkozy's phone
(7) Guardian report on Le Monde article censors Israeli connection to
Sarkozy hacking
(8) Another Guardian article censors the Le Monde report which
attributes the hacking to Israeli agents
(9) Israelis were behind hacking of French phones, but America took the
blame - Justin Raimondo
(10) Israeli Responsibility for Hacking Millions of French Phones? -
Stephen Lendman

(1) Most Western newspapers censor Le Monde report blaming Mossad (not
NSA) for hacking Sarkozy's phone - Peter Myers, November 18, 2013

Search Google for "Barbier" "Pailloux" "monde" "ISNU" (ISNU being
Mossad's cyber-intelligence unit mentioned in the Le Monde report).

The only major Western newspapers which show up are Le Monde, UK Daily
Mail, and the Global Post (US). Israeli newspapers also show up,
including the Jerusalem Post.

The Guardian, ostensibly Le Monde's sister newspaper in the UK,
suppressed the Mossad connection, but mentioned everything else.

(2) Le Monde: NSA blames Mossad (& ISNU, its cyber-intelligence unit)
for hacking Sarkozy's phone

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/10/25/the-nsa-s-intern-inquiry-about-the-elysee-hacking-revealed_3502734_651865.html

The NSA's intern inquiry about the Elysée hacking revealed

Le Monde | 25.10.2013 à 10h21 • Mis à jour le 25.10.2013 à 15h32 | Par
Jacques Follorou et Glenn Greenwald (Journaliste)

The creation within ten years by the United States of an unprecedented
electronic espionage system all over the world has generated tensions
with countries nevertheless considered to be historical allies, such as
France. The examination by Le Monde of unpublished documents from the
NSA (National Security Agency) – the agency in charge of digital and
other communications, shows the tensions and distrust between Paris and
Washington.

Lire aussi la version française : Comment Paris a soupçonné la NSA
d'avoir piraté l'Elysée

One of these is a four-page internal NSA memo, revealed by Edward
Snowden, the agency's ex-consultant, and marked ‘top secret', the
highest degree of confidentiality. It was sent to the administration of
the NSA by the French service in charge of external relations and sets
out the main lines of the visit, on 12 April 2013, of two top French
officials. The object of the visit : the IT attack in May 2012,
targeting the presidency of the French republic. The memo stated that
Bernard Barbier, technical director of the DGSE (external French secret
service) and Patrick Pailloux, the director of the ANSSI (the National
Agency for the security of IT systems) are coming to ask their American
counterparts, whom they suspect are behind this pirating, for an
explanation.

These four pages mix considerations about organization with the findings
of an inquiry into the grounds of the complaints of the French. We learn
that none of the services capable of carrying out this type of
electronic attack within American Intelligence (NSA or CIA) or amongst
the close friends of the second circle (British or Canadian) are
apparently responsible for this operation hostile to the Elysee. At the
close of his overview in which each word is carefully chosen the editor
specifies that during the research, the NSA "intentionally did not ask
either the Mossad or the ISNU (the technical administration of the
Israeli services) whether they were involved" in this espionage
operation against the head of the French government.

This affair began in May 2012, between the two rounds of the French
Presidential elections. Nicolas Sarkozy's staff were still in the
Elysée. As Le Télégramme revealed, security systems were to detect the
presence of detectors enabling the capture of information from the
Presidency and mechanisms for pirating the computers of the major
collaborators of the Head of State. "The attack was not part of an act
of sabotage which was to be made public but of the desire to be
permanently installed invisibly at the centre of the Presidency",
explained an expert speaking about the incident.

In November 2012, L'Express published an article indicating the
Americans as the people behind the attack. Tension then rose between the
two capitals. In January 2012, during his brief visit to Paris, General
Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA, was questioned by the DGSE and the
ANSSI concerning the responsibility of his agency. The Directorate of
External Relations at the NSA explained in the preparatory memo for the
12 April visit that at "no point had the DGSE or the ANSSI informed him
about their intention to question General Alexander about this." To
attempt, or to appear, to prove their good faith, the NSA planned to
send two analysts from the NTOC (the NSA's crisis centre) in March to
assist the French in finding the attacker. On the eve of their
departure, France cancelled their visit and hardened their tone
demanding that MM. Barbier and Pailloux be given a hearing at the NSA on
12 April 2013. The internal NSA document notes that at no point did the
French transmit the elements at their disposal concerning the possible
responsibility of the Americans. "Doubtless because the French want to
see how the NSA responds when they present their findings", states the
memo as a hypothesis.

It is in the chapter headed "potential traps" and "other information" in
the document that we read the details of the NSA research into this
affair. The author of the memo delivers to his superiors the state of
the agency's knowledge to deal with the accusations. Thus we read that
the TAO service (Tailored access operation) which manages and carries
out the NSA's cyber attacks throughout the world confirmed that the
attack did not concern any of its operations. The document specifies
that "TAO had asked most of the NSA's closest partners in the second
circle (CIA, GCHQ [the British secret services] and the CSEC [the
Canadian services] were the main suspects) whether they were involved ;
all denied involvement". The first circle includes the sixteen American
intelligence agencies, the second adds the United Kingdom, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand and the third includes countries like France
and Germany.

To supplement the information for the heads of the NSA, the memo takes
the trouble to add that the Mossad and its technical department, the
ISNU, also capable of carrying out this type of attack had,
"intentionally" not been questioned about this affair. To justify this
reserve, the author suggested, laconically "France is not an approved
target for joint discussion by Israël and the United States". The NSA
does not say that the Mossad carried out the attack but nevertheless,
seems to consider it necessary to mention the existence of a reasonable
doubt as regards the Jewish state.

The close relation between Washington and Tel-Aviv in the field of
intelligence does not rule out a degree of mistrust. In a document dated
2008, published by the Guardian, a top official at the NSA refers to the
aggressiveness of the Israeli intelligence service concerning the United
States. "France is not the only country to target the department of
Defense using electronic espionage, Israel also does this. On one hand,
the Israelis are excellent partners in terms of sharing information but
on the other, they target us to find out our positions on the Middle
East (…) It is the third most aggressive intelligence service in the
world against the United States".

As far as relations between the French and Israeli secret services are
concerned, they are close and regular on the Middle East, in particular
recently on Syria. But confidence is sometimes undermined by the fairly
intense activity of the Israeli intelligence services on French soil.
The Arab and African world transits through France and according to a
member of the French counter-espionage (DCRI) department, they have even
complained to the Mossad after having observed that the Mossad had used
a hotel in Paris as one of the bases of the operation which led to the
assassination, in January 2010, in Dubai, of one the military heads of
the Palestinian Islamist movement, the Hamas.

Questioned by Le Monde about the elements contained in the NSA memo, the
Israeli Prime Minister's office stated that "Israel is a country which
is a friend, ally and partner of France and does not carry out any
hostile activity which could pose a threat to its security". The DGSE
and the ANSSI were also contacted and refused to comment, while at the
same time they did not deny the 12 April visit to the NSA. The national
co-coordinator for intelligence at the Elysee, Alain Sabulon, did not
wish to answer our questions. The American authorities noted that the
activities of the intelligence service "were carried out according to law".

(3) Radio France: It's not us it's Israel, US told France over 2012
presidential snooping

http://www.english.rfi.fr/americas/20131025-its-not-us-its-israel-us-told-france-over-2012-presidential-snooping

It's not us it's Israel, US told France over 2012 presidential snooping

  By RFI {Radio France Internationale}

Article published the Friday 25 October 2013 - Latest update : Friday 25
October 2013

France suspected the US of hacking into the president's communications
network during the 2012 presidential election but American officials
hinted that Israel may have been behind the cyberattack, according to
the latest revelation on the National Security Agency (NSA) published in
Le Monde newspaper.

Top French intelligence officials Bernard Barbier and Patrick Pailloux
travelled to Washington to demand an explanation for for an attempt to
compromise the Elysée presidential palace's communications system,
according to a briefing note prepared in April and published by Le Monde.

At the time outgoing president Nicolas Sarkozy's teams were still
working at the Elysée as he fought an unsuccessful battle to remain in
power.

The Americans, who were so anxious not to upset the French that the note
spelt out how to pronounce their names, denied being behind the hacking
and said that most of their closest allies - Australia, Britain, Canada
and New Zealand - also denied involvement.

But the branch of the NSA which handles cyberattacks, Tailored Access
Operations (TAO) refused to vouch for Israel.

"TAO intentionally did not ask either Mossad or [Israel's
cyberintelligence unit] ISNU whether they were involved as France is not
an approved target for joint discussions," the note said - a statement
that the Le Monde article, coauthored by former Guardian journalist
Glenn Greenwald, interprets as a hint that the Israelis were responsible.

The attacks have been previously reported by French media, who said they
were an attempt to insert monitoring devices into the system, but it is
unclear whether the presidential networks were compromised for any time.

Both US and French intelligence work closely with Mossad but not without
a certain amount of mistrust.

A 2008 NSA note leaked by the Guardian judged the Israelis "excellent
partners in terms of sharing information " but added that Mossad is "the
third most aggressive intelligence service in the world against the
United States".

France is also reported to have protested about Mossad's use of its soil
to plan operations such as 2010 assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud
Al-Mabhouh of the Palestinian movement Hamas.

"Israel is a country which is a friend, ally and partner of France and
does not carry out any hostile activity which could pose a threat to its
security," the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told
Le Monde.

(4) UK Daily Mail: Le Monde says it was Israeli agents who hacked
Sarkozy's phone, not the NSA

    Kristoffer Larsson <krislarsson@comhem.se> 27 October 2013 01:15

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477013/Was-ISRAEL-hacking-millions-French-phones-NOT-U-S--Extraordinary-twist-spying-saga-revealed.html

Was ISRAEL behind the hacking of millions of French phones and NOT the
U.S.? Extraordinary twist in spying saga revealed

   Agents said to have intercepted 70 million calls and text messages a
month

   France had previously blamed the United States of America

   U.S. was first suspected of hacking into Nicolas Sarkozy's phone in 2012

   Americans insisted they have never been behind hacking in France

   Comes after it emerged German officials are planning trip to U.S. to
discuss allegations Angela Merkel's phone was hack by the NSA

   The German Chancellor said President Obama's reputation has been
shattered on an international scale because of espionage scandal

By NABILA RAMDANI

PUBLISHED: 16:32 GMT, 25 October 2013 | UPDATED: 20:46 GMT, 25 October 2013

Israel and not America was behind the hacking of millions of French
phones, it was claimed today.

In the latest extraordinary twist in the global eavesdropping scandal,
Israeli agents are said to have intercepted more than 70 million calls
and text messages a month.

Up until now the French have been blaming the U.S., even summoning the
country’s Paris ambassador to provide an explanation.

France first suspected the U.S. of hacking into former president Nicolas
Sarkozy's communications network when he was unsuccessfully trying for
re-election in 2012

But today’s Le Monde newspaper provides evidence that it was in fact
Israeli agents who were listening in.

France first suspected the U.S. of hacking into former president Nicolas
Sarkozy’s communications network when he was unsuccessfully trying for
re-election in 2012.

Intelligence officials Bernard Barbier and Patrick Pailloux travelled
from Paris to Washington to demand an explanation, but the Americans
hinted that the Israelis were to blame.

The Americans insisted they have never been behind any hacking in
France, and were always keen to get on with the French, whom they viewed
as some of their closest allies.

They were so determined to be friends with the French, that U.S.
briefing notes included details of how to pronounce the names of the
Gallic officials.

A note published in Le Monde shows that the Americans refused to rule
out Mossad, Israel’s notoriously uncompromising intelligence agency, or
the ISNU, Israel’s cyber-intelligence unit.

Tailored Access Operations (TAO), the branch of the US National Security
Agency (NSA) which deals with cyber-attacks, is referred to throughout
the note.

It reads: ‘TAO intentionally did not ask either Mossad or ISNU whether
they were involved as France is not an approved target for joint
discussions.’

Le Monde’s article, co-authored by U.S. journalist Glenn Greenwald,
whose main contact is NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, however, hints
that the Israelis were doing the spying.

Both US and French intelligence work closely with Mossad, but there is
known to be a great deal of suspicion between all the agencies.

A 2008 NSA note says that the Israelis are ‘excellent partners in terms
of sharing information’, but it also says that Mossad is ‘the third most
aggressive intelligence service in the world against the United States’.

A spokesman for the Israeli government told Le Monde: ‘Israel is a
country which is a friend, ally and partner of France and does not carry
out any hostile activity which could pose a threat to its security.’

France has complained in the past about Mossad's use of its soil to plan
so called black operations including the 2010 assassination in Dubai of
Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh of the Palestinian movement Hamas.

The revelation comes after senior German officials said they would be
travelling to the U.S. 'shortly' to talk about allegations the NSA
bugged Angela Merkel's phone.

Obama orders review of surveillance activities

The heads of Germany's foreign and domestic intelligence agencies will
participate in high-level discussions with the White House and National
Security Agency, government spokesman Georg Streiter said.

News of the talks signals an escalation in the diplomatic tensions
between the U.S. and its allies after it was claimed the NSA had
monitored the calls of 35 world leaders.

Brazil and Germany have joined forces in an attempt to pile pressure on
the United Nations to rein in the snooping activities. They want a UN
General Resolution that promotes the right to online privacy.

This step, the first major international response to the NSA's
infiltration of the online communications of foreigners, comes after
German Chancellor Merkel said the recent U.S. espionage scandal has
shattered international trust in Barack Obama.

{caption}
Angela Merkel said the recent espionage scandal has shattered
international trust in President Obama {end}

{caption}
Not hacked: The White House has denied that David Cameron's
communications were ever monitored {end}

A month earlier Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff branded the NSA's
clandestine activities 'a breach of international law' in a speech to
the UN General Assembly and demanded steps be made to stop 'cyberspace
from being used as a weapon of war'.

Brazilian and German diplomats met in New York yesterday to thrash out a
draft resolution demanding the strengthening of privacy rights in the
International Covenant Civil and Political Rights.

While the UN has no real power to reign in the NSA, there are fears
among security experts that the effort alone could signal a growing
consensus to freeze the US out of future international security dialogues.

(5) Global Post (citing AFP): France feared US hacked president, was
Israel involved?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131025/france-feared-us-hacked-president-was-israel-involved-0

France feared US hacked president, was Israel involved?

Agence France-Presse  October 25, 2013 09:52

(Globalpost/GlobalPost)

France believed the United States attempted to hack into its president's
communications network, a leaked US intelligence document published on
Friday suggests.

US agents denied having anything to do with a May 2012 cyber attack on
the Elysee Palace, the official residence of French presidents, and
appeared to hint at the possible involvement of Mossad, Israel's
intelligence agency, a classified internal note from the US National
Security Agency suggests.

Extracts from the document, the latest to emerge from the NSA via former
contractor Edward Snowden, were published by Le Monde newspaper
alongside an article jointly authored by Glenn Greenwald, the US
journalist who has been principally responsible for a still-unravelling
scandal over large-scale US snooping on individuals and political
leaders all over the world.

The document is a briefing note prepared in April this year for NSA
officials who were due to meet two senior figures from France's external
intelligence agency, the DGSE. The French agents had travelled to
Washington to demand explanations over their discovery in May 2012 of
attempts to compromise the Elysee's communications systems.

The note says that the branch of the NSA which handles cyber attacks,
Tailored Access Operations (TAO), had confirmed that it had not carried
out the attack and says that most of its closest allies (Australia,
Britain, Canada and New Zealand) had also denied involvement.

It goes on to note: "TAO intentionally did not ask either Mossad or
(Israel's cyber intelligence unit) ISNU whether they were involved as
France is not an approved target for joint discussions."

Le Monde interpreted this sentence as being an ironic reference to a
strong likelihood that Mossad had been behind the attack.

The cyber attacks on the Elysee took place in the final weeks of Nicolas
Sarkozy's term, between the two rounds of the presidential election
which he ended up losing to Francois Hollande.

The attacks had been previously reported by French media, who have
described them as an attempt to insert monitoring devices into the
system but it remains unclear whether the presidential networks were
compromised for any time.

There was no immediate response from the Elysee on Friday when asked for
comment by AFP.

Sarkozy enjoyed warmer relations with the United States than any French
president of recent times, to the extent that the media sometimes
referred to him as "Sarko the American."

The revelations about the Elysee attacks followed damaging revelations
that the US had tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and spied on other allies.

"Spying between friends, that's just not done," Merkel said Thursday at
the start of a summit of European Union leaders which has been
overshadowed by the issue.

On a lighter note, the leaked document published by Le Monde on Friday
underlines that NSA officials were anxious not to cause any further
offence to their angry French counterparts.

Along with the technical details, the briefing note contains a phonetic
guide to the pronunciation of the names of the French visitors.

They included DGSE technical director Bernard Barbier, who was to be
addressed as bear-NAR bur-BYAY, and Patrick Pailloux, or pah-TREEK
pie-YOO, head of the National Agency for the Security of Information
Systems (ANSSI).

Both the DGSE and ANSSI refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

(6) Jerusalem Post: report says Mossad may have hacked Sarkozy's phone
http://www.jpost.com/International/Report-Israels-Mossad-may-have-hacked-former-French-president-Sarkozys-communications-in-2012-329753

Report: Israel's Mossad may have hacked former French president
Sarkozy's communications in 2012

By JPOST.COM STAFF

LAST UPDATED: 10/25/2013 20:52

Le Monde reports US denied involvement in phone tapping, as well as that
of allies, but NSA would not vouch for Israel.

US National Security Agency documents revealed by fugitive whistleblower
Edward Snowden demonstrate that Israel may have hacked into former
French President Nicholas Sarkozy's communication network in May 2012,
Le Monde reported on Friday.

After the French discovered the hack, French officials Bernard Barbier
and Patrick Pailloux traveled to Washington seeking clarification from
the Americans on the issue, according to the report.

The Americans denied involvement in the hacking and said that their
closest allies Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were also not
involved.

However, the NSA would not vouch for Israel to the French, saying it
"intentionally did not ask either Mossad or [Israel's cyber-intelligence
unit] ISNU whether they were involved as France is not an approved
target for joint discussions."

Le Monde interpreted this statement as a hint of Israel's involvement in
the hacking.

"Israel is a country which is a friend, ally and partner of France and
does not carry out any hostile activity which could pose a threat to its
security," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office told Le Monde
following the report.

The report comes one day after a different report also based on
documents leaked by Snowden, claimed that the United States monitored
the phone conversations of 35 world leaders.

(7) Guardian report on Le Monde article censors Israeli connection to
Sarkozy hacking
To locate these reports in The Guardian, search Google for "Guardian"
"Barbier" "Pailloux" "monde"

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/25/nsa-surveillance-more-revelations-spying-eu

NSA surveillance: more revelations as EU leaders meet in Brussels

Italian magazine reports allegedly vast scale of US and British spying,
and Le Monde publishes another NSA document

Lizzy Davies in Rome and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris

theguardian.com, Saturday 26 October 2013 01.35 AEST

{The Guardian's article suppresses that part of the Le Monde report
which attributes the hacking to Israeli agents - Peter M.}

As European leaders met in Brussels on Friday, fresh revelations about
NSA snooping continued to emerge, with an Italian magazine focusing
attention on the allegedly vast scale of US and British surveillance of
telephone and email communications in Italy.

The weekly L'Espresso magazine said it had learned that documents
obtained by the whistleblower Edward Snowden showed the intensive
monitoring of Italian telecoms networks by both the NSA and GCHQ.

Through their "more modern and more invasive" Tempora programme, the
magazine wrote, the British intelligence services were allegedly able to
collect large amounts of data, which they then shared "in total
collaboration" with their close allies at the NSA.

L'Espresso published no new documents, but said it had ascertained that
Italy - and particularly Sicily - had become a focus of activity because
of its strategic location between Europe, north Africa and the Middle East.

It said that GCHQ had access to three fibre-optic telecommunications
cables - SeaMeWe3, SeaMeWe4, and the Europe Asia segment of the
so-called FLAG cable - which between them had three landing points in
Sicily.

Writing that the priorities of Tempora, first revealed by the Guardian
in June , were wide-ranging, L'Espresso claimed they included
establishing "the political intentions of foreign governments", trade
deals, and information to help support Britain's economic wellbeing.

L'Espresso wrote: "The British authorities' licence to spy is very large
and allows for businesses, politicians and statesmen to be kept under
control."

The extent to which Italy's own intelligence services were aware of
these alleged activities was unclear, the magazine reported, claiming
that the Italians had a "third party agreement" with the British but
giving no further details.

In a statement to Italy's parliamentary committee for the intelligence
and security services and for state secret control (Copasir), Italy's
intelligence services denied they had made an agreement with GCHQ for
the interception of data from the cables.

In France, the daily newspaper Le Monde published an internal NSA
document which it said showed the "tensions and distrust between Paris
and Washington".

The document, a preparatory note before a visit to the NSA by two top
French intelligence officials in April 2013, shows that French officials
suspected the US could have been behind a now well-known cyber-attack on
the French presidential computer network at the Elysée in May 2012.

The hacking incident occurred just before the second round of the French
presidential election, when Nicolas Sarkozy was still in power. Le Monde
stated that the two French officials went to ask their US counterparts
at the NSA for an explanation.

The NSA document states that no US intelligence agency or of its close
allies in Britain and Canada were behind the electronic attack.

The Elysée tightened its cybersecurity after the May 2012 incident, in
which suspected detectors had been installed allowing access to
information from the presidency and the hacking of presidential
computers. "The attack was not part of an act of sabotage which was to
be made public, but of the desire to be permanently installed invisibly
at the centre of the presidency", an expert on the case told Le Monde.

It added: "To attempt, or to appear, to prove their good faith, the NSA
planned to send two analysts from NTOC [the NSA's crisis centre] in
March to assist the French in finding the attacker. On the eve of their
departure, France cancelled the visit and hardened its tone, demanding
that [French intelligence officials] Bernard Barbier and Patrick
Pailloux be given a hearing at the NSA on 12 April 2013.

"The internal NSA document notes that at no point did the French
transmit the elements at their disposal concerning the possible
responsibility of the Americans. Doubtless because the French want to
see how the NSA responds when they presented their findings."

The NSA document shows that the US maintained it had no role in the
cyber-attack.

{The Guardian's article suppresses that part of the Le Monde report
which attributes the hacking to Israeli agents - Peter M.} ==

(8) Another Guardian article censors the Le Monde report which
attributes the hacking to Israeli agents
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/nsa-files-live-coverage-developments-reaction

NSA files – Merkel and Hollande call for talks with US by end of year – live

Paul Owen

theguardian.com, Saturday 26 October 2013 03.23 AEST

[...] 11.24am BST
France 'suspected US'

Le Monde has today published an internal NSA document which it says
shows the “tensions and distrust between Paris and Washington”, writes
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.

The document, a preparatory note before a visit to the NSA by two top
French intelligence officials in April 2013, shows that French officials
suspected the US could have been behind a now well-known cyberattack on
the French presidential computer network at the Elysée in May 2012.

The hacking incident occurred just before the second round of the French
presidential election, when Nicolas Sarkozy was still in power.

Le Monde – in an article co-written by outgoing Guardian journalist
Glenn Greenwald – stated that the two French officials went to ask their
American counterparts at the NSA for “an explanation”.

The NSA document states that no US intelligence agency – or its close
allies, the British services GCHQ or the Canadian services - were behind
the electronic attack.

The Elysee tightened its cyber-security after the May 2012 incident in
which suspected detectors had been installed allowing access to
information from the presidency and the hacking of presidential computers.

"The attack was not part of an act of sabotage which was to be made
public but of the desire to be permanently installed invisibly at the
centre of the presidency," an expert on the case told Le Monde.

The paper said: “To attempt, or to appear, to prove their good faith,
the NSA planned to send two analysts from the NTOC [the NSA's crisis
centre] in March to assist the French in finding the attacker. On the
eve of their departure, France cancelled their visit and hardened their
tone demanding that [French intelligence officials] Bernard Barbier and
Patrick Pailloux be given a hearing at the NSA on 12 April 2013. The
internal NSA document notes that at no point did the French transmit the
elements at their disposal concerning the possible responsibility of the
Americans. 'Doubtless because the French want to see how the NSA
responds when they present their findings,' states the memo as a
hypothesis."

The NSA documents show the US maintained it had no role in the cyberattack.

The TAO service [Tailored access operation] which manages and carries
out the NSA's cyber-attacks throughout the world confirmed that the
attack did not concern any of its operations.

The document specifies that "TAO had asked most of the NSA's closest
partners in the second circle (CIA, GCHQ and the CSEC [the Canadian
services] were the main suspects) whether they were involved; all denied
involvement". [...]

(9) Israelis were behind hacking of French phones, but America took the
blame - Justin Raimondo

Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2013 06:28:45 +0900

Subject: Israel and the NSA: Partners in Crime Posted By Justin Raimondo
From: chris lancenet <chrislancenet@gmail.com>

Israel and the NSA: Partners in Crime

Documents hint Israelis behind attempt to eavesdrop on France – but
America takes the blame

by Justin Raimondo

antiwar.com

OCTOBER 27, 2013

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/10/27/israel-and-the-nsa-partners-in-crime/

It wasn’t the US government breaking into the private communications of
former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to top secret
documents unearthed by Edward Snowden and published in Le Monde – it was
the Israelis
<http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/10/25/the-nsa-s-intern-inquiry-about-the-elysee-hacking-revealed_3502734_651865.html>
.

A four-page internal précis regarding a visit to Washington by two top
French intelligence officials denies the NSA or any US intelligence
agency was behind the May 2012 attempted break-in – which sought to
implant a monitoring device inside the Elysee Palace’s communications
system – but instead fingers the Israelis, albeit indirectly:

The visit by Barnard Barbier, head of the DGSE’s technical division, and
Patrick Pailloux, a top official with France’s National Information
Systems Security, was intended to elicit an explanation for the
break-in, which the French media blamed on the Americans. The NSA’s
inquiries to the British, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and
other US allies all turned up negative. However, one such close ally
wasn’t asked.

As Glenn Greenwald and Jacques Follorou, citing the NSA document, put it
in their Le Monde piece: the NSA "’intentionally did not ask either the
Mossad or the ISNU (the technical administration of the Israeli
services) whether they were involved’ in this espionage operation
against the head of the French government."

An interesting omission, to say the least, one justified by the author
of the memo with some odd phraseology: "France is not an approved target
for joint discussion by Israel and the United States." Meaning – exactly
what? This is a job for Marcy Wheeler! But I’ll hazard a guess: the US
is well aware of Israeli spying on France and wants nothing to do with
it, and/or the author of the memo is simply invoking some obscure
protocol in order to justify going any farther.

In any case, the Israeli connection to the NSA’s global spying network –
including its all-pervasive surveillance inside the US – has been
well-established by Greenwald’s previous reporting on the subject: a
September 11 article detailing how the NSA shares raw intercepts from
its data-dragnet with Israeli intelligence, scooping up purloined emails
and other data – in effect giving the Mossad a "back door" into a
treasure trove of information on the private lives and activities of
American citizens.

The Guardian published a five-page memorandum of understanding between
Tel Aviv and Washington, provided to Greenwald by Snowden: rife with
references to the legal and constitutional constraints "pertaining to
the protection of US persons," it goes on to state forthrightly that the
Israelis are permitted access to "raw Sigint" – unredacted and
unreviewed transcripts, Internet metadata, and the content of emails and
telephonic communications. While the Israelis supposedly solemnly swear
to not "deliberately" target any American citizen, the agreement
explicitly rules out a legal obligation on the part of the Israelis to
follow the rules:

"This agreement is not intended to create any legally enforceable rights
and shall not be construed to be either an international agreement or a
legally binding instrument according to international law."

The Israelis are allowed to retain raw NSA data on American citizens for
up to a year, as long as they inform the NSA, but when it comes to US
government communications – those must be destroyed "upon recognition."
This interdict presumably covers the internal communications of our law
enforcement officers, but as both James Bamford and Fox News’s Carl
Cameron have reported, Israeli penetration of this vital sector is
already an accomplished fact.

In his book, The Shadow Factory, and a 2012 Wired piece, Bamford details
the NSA’s connections to "secretive contractors with questionable
histories and little oversight" which were used "to do the actual
bugging of the entire U.S. telecommunications network."

According to Bamford, who cites a former Verizon employee,
Verint/Comverse Technology – a company with direct ties to the Israeli
government and founded by former Israeli intelligence officers – "taps
the communication lines at Verizon." Over at AT&T, "wiretapping rooms
are powered by software and hardware from Narus, now owned by Boeing, a
discovery made by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein in 2004." As Bamford
puts it:

"What is especially troubling is that both companies have had extensive
ties to Israel, as well as links to that country’s intelligence service,
a country with a long and aggressive history of spying on the US.

In short, much of the surveillance technology in use by the NSA
originated in Israel, and was developed by Israeli companies with ties –
direct subsidies, board memberships, etc. – to the Israeli government,
and specifically its intelligence services. This would make is easy for
the Israelis to construct a “back door” that would give them access to
the system. For one early example, the eavesdropping software that
allows US law enforcement to wiretap reportedly has just such a "back
door," as reported by Fox’s Carl Cameron, one that has enabled Israeli
Mafia and others to shield themselves from surveillance.

The problem became so bad that, in October 2001 a group of law
enforcement officials sent a letter to then Attorney General John
Ashcroft warning that the system had been compromised. Cameron reports
that the suspects in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks may have taken
advantage of the system’s vulnerabilities: "On a number of cases," says
Cameron, "suspects that they had sought to wiretap and survey
immediately changed their telecommunications processes. They started
acting much differently as soon as those supposedly secret wiretaps went
into place."

The agreement between the NSA and the Israelis, then, merely made
official what was already operationally true: the Israelis can directly
tap into the NSA’s data dragnet, and indeed have been doing so for
years. And it looks like Snowden wasn’t the only ex-employee to reveal
the NSA’s secrets: according to Bill Binney, a former NSA official cited
by Bamford, a "mid level" NSA official "who was a very strong supporter
of Israel" turned over the NSA’s "advanced analytical and data mining
software" to the Israelis. The big difference, however, is that Snowden
didn’t hand it over to a foreign country – he handed it over to us.

In the case of the attempt to penetrate the communications system of the
French President, what’s interesting is that Washington said nothing in
public about its strong suspicions the Israelis were behind it, even as
anti-American sentiment over the incident reached a fever pitch in
Paris. US officials were and are willing to sit silently while their
country is excoriated, letting Uncle Sam take the heat for our "allies"
in Tel Aviv.

Not only that, but the unbalanced relationship between the US and Israel
when it comes to intelligence sharing is openly acknowledged by NSA
officials in top secret documents unearthed by Snowden and reported by
the Greenwald-Poitras-Guardian team:

"On the one hand, the Israelis are extraordinarily good Sigint partners
for us, but on the other, they target us to learn our positions on
Middle East problems. A NIE [National Intelligence Estimate] ranked them
as the third most aggressive intelligence service against the US.”

Both Bamford and Cameron have reported that it is "career suicide" for
anyone inside the US government to question the one-sided "special
relationship" between Israel and the US when it comes to intelligence
gathering. The reason for this is the political power of the Israel
lobby, and its ability to target and destroy opposition within the
national security bureaucracy. No doubt their unlimited access to our
communications has much to do with this: I wonder how many dark secrets
they have on our politicians? Anyone who thinks the Israelis would
hesitate to use this information, handed over to them so eagerly by the
supine US authorities, is being willfully blind.

This is one aspect of the NSA scandal we are hearing very little about,
yet the Israel connection may be key to seeing the big picture. So let’s
step back, then, and look at the portrait of the Panopticon as painted
by the Snowden documents, and reported on by Greenwald and others.

The US has constructed this global system of interception, which
monitors, records, and stores virtually all electronic and telephonic
communications. It’s an elaborate apparatus, requiring tremendous
resources and complex systems that sort, file, and organize this vast
databank so as to make it readily available to an analyst sitting in his
cubicle at an NSA facility. Sitting in the center of this vast
spiderweb, with access to all its manifold threads and extensions, is
not only the US government, but, standing behind them, the Israelis –
who are spying on us, as well.

The Israel lobby and its amen corner continually carp about how any
attempt to negotiate with Iran – or any of their other perceived enemies
– is "appeasement." Yet the real appeasers are those in our government
who allow Israel to walk all over us, in public and in private – even to
the extent of handing them the keys to our entire communications system.
I wonder if any of the politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, who
are now making noises about the NSA’s surveillance have the courage to
buck the Israel lobby and bring up this matter in a public forum. Where
is the congressional investigation into this serious breach of US
national security? Where are the hearings?

I’m not holding my breath on this one, and neither should you. But let’s
just put it out there, for the public record.

NOTES IN THE MARGIN

You can check out my Twitter feed by going here. But please note that my
tweets are sometimes deliberately provocative, often made in jest, and
largely consist of me thinking out loud.

I’ve written a couple of books, which you might want to peruse. Here is
the link for buying the second edition of my 1993 book, Reclaiming the
American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement, with an
Introduction by Prof. George W. Carey, a Foreword by Patrick J.
Buchanan, and critical essays by Scott Richert and David Gordon (ISI
Books, 2008).

(10) Israeli Responsibility for Hacking Millions of French Phones? -
Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/Israeli-responsibility-for-hacking.html

MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2013

Israeli Responsibility for Hacking Millions of French Phones?

by Stephen Lendman

Mossad's credentials are notorious. They're well known. It's expertise
is acknowledged. Its rap sheet is longstanding and nefarious.

Its tactics include targeted assassinations, satellite, drone and other
type spying, hacking and espionage expertise, computer viruses, other
cyber attacks, bombings, sabotage, and other lawless practices.

On October 25, France's Le Monde headlined "The NSA's intern inquiry
about the Elysee hacking revealed."

Edward Snowden connected important dots for millions. Documents he
released included "a four-page internal NSA memo," said Le Monde. It's
marked "top secret." France sent it.

It said French secret service technical director Bernard Barbier and
National Agency for IT systems security head Patrick Pailloux "are
coming to ask their American counterparts, whom they suspect are
(conducting Elysee Palace espionage) for an explanation."

It's the official French president's residence. It includes his office.
It's where government ministers meet to discuss official business.

France "learn(ed) that none of the services capable of carrying out this
type of electronic attack came from America, Britain or Canada.

Carefully chosen wording said the NSA "intentionally did not ask either
the Mossad or the ISNU (Israeli technical administration services)
whether they were involved."

Penetrating Elysee began while Nicolas Sarkozy was president. Security
systems were in place to detect electronic espionage.

The attack conducted wasn't "part of an act of sabotage which was to be
made public but of the desire to be permanently installed invisibly at
the centre of the Presidency," said Le Monde.

Initially, America was thought to be responsible. Tensions followed. In
January 2012, NSA head General Keith Alexander was questioned about his
possible role.

He denied responsibility. He offered to send two NSA NTOC (National
Threat Operations Center) analysts to help identify the hacker.

"On the eve of their departure," said Le Monde, "France cancelled their
visit and hardened (its) tone."

The top secret NSA document discusses its Office of Tailored Operations
(TAO). Most agency employees and officials know little or nothing about it.

Extraordinary secrecy keeps its operations concealed. Only select NSA
officials needing to know are fully apprised of its mission.

It involves targeting other nations. It seeks the most sensitive type
information. Its tactics include sophisticated hacking. Its able to
develop information needed to destroy, damage, or otherwise compromise
targeted sites.

The document France obtained said NSA, Britain, Canada and other close
"second circle" allies weren't involved in Elysee hacking.

It added that Israel's Mossad has sophisticated technical expertise. Its
involvement was suggested short of accusations. No investigation was
conducted to learn for sure.

At the same time, reasonable suspicion exists. A top NSA official
commented on Israel's aggressive spying on America. The document France
obtained explained, saying:

"France is not the only country to target the department of Defense
using electronic espionage."

"Israel also does this. On one hand, the Israelis are excellent partners
in terms of sharing information but on the other, they target us to find
out our positions on the Middle East."

"It is the third most aggressive intelligence service in the world
against the United States."

"There is a chance that helping attribute the cyber attacks against the
French Presidential network may reveal a US ally is responsible." NSA
had Israel in mind.

On October 25, London's Daily Mail headlined "Was ISRAEL behind the
hacking of millions of French phones and NOT the US?" Information Le
Monde reported suggested so.

"In the latest extraordinary twist in the global eavesdropping scandal,
Israeli agents are said to have intercepted more than 70 million calls
and text messages a month."

France initially blamed America. Perhaps it pointed fingers the wrong way.

US and French intelligence work closely with Mossad. At the same time,
suspicions cloud relations. Israel spies aggressively on allies.

A government spokesman lied, saying:

"Israel is a country which is a friend, ally and partner of France and
does not carry out any hostile activity which could pose a threat to its
security."

France complained earlier about Israel using its territory for so-called
black operations.

A notable 2010 Dubai incident involved assassinating Hamas Qassam
Brigades co-founder Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. Killing him succeeded after two
earlier failed tries.

Israel is a notorious rogue state. International laws and standards
don't matter. They're consistently violated. Anything goes is policy.
Allies can be as vulnerable as foes.

Has Israel been intercepting 70 million French phone calls and text
messages monthly? Did it penetrate Elysee security? Does it target its
other close allies the same way?

Snowden released documents show aggressive global NSA spying. Perhaps
Israel operates the same way.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on
Humanity."