Danish internet cables have been used to spy on, among others, Angela Merkel.
The US intelligence service (NSA) has used Danish internet cables to spy on state leaders, top politicians and high-ranking officials in Germany, Sweden, Norway and France.
And it has been possible because the Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has let them do it.
It writes DR News in a revelation that has been created in international collaboration with the media SVT, NRK, Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, WDR and Le Monde.
Among the targets of NSA espionage were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then-German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and then-German opposition leader Peer Steinbrück.
According to associate professor and intelligence researcher Thomas Wegener Friis from the University of Southern Denmark, the big names can present challenges for Denmark.
– Angela Merkel, Steinbrück and Steinmeier are not just the pinnacle of German politics: they are the super league of European politics. It makes them move up on the Americans’ wish list, but conversely, espionage also gives Denmark a problem in Europe, he says to DR.
Used phone numbers for espionage
The revelation is based on anonymous sources, but DR writes that they have “held several meetings with nine different sources, all of whom have had access to classified information from FE”.
The sources tell DR that FE’s “secret, internal investigation into American espionage” had the code name ‘Operation Dunhammer’ and was completed in May 2015.
It has not been possible for TV 2 to confirm the information.
According to DR’s information, the investigation has shown that in 2012 and 2014 the NSA purposefully obtained data by using the telephone numbers of politicians and officials.
This means that the NSA has used the telephone numbers as search parameters to sort through the large amounts of data that run through the Danish Internet cables. In this way, the US intelligence service has been able to get hold of everything from text messages and phone calls that have found their way both in and out of the spies’ phones.
According to DR, the management of the Defense Intelligence Service has apparently been aware of the NSA’s espionage against politicians and officials in Denmark’s closest neighbors. At least since 2015.
Rapporteurs want Bramsen and Hækkerup in consultation
The revelation has caused a stir in foreign media.
For example, the story is at the top of DR’s collaborator on the story Le Monde , which points out that Angela Merkel has been spied on by the NSA from Denmark, while Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that the American intelligence service with help from Denmark has apparently intercepted top politicians in Europe.
And here at home, the reactions from the political side are now also starting to trickle down. On Twitter, for example, defense spokeswoman for the Unity List Eva Flyvholm writes that the Danish government owes our neighboring countries a “huge apology”, and that Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup and Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen must consult.
