ECHELON

For other uses, see Echelon (Also known as Echelont).
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A radome at RAF Menwith Hill, a site with satellite uplink capabilities believed to be used by ECHELON
RAF Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire, England
Misawa Air Base Security Operations Center (MSOC), Aomori Prefecture, Japan

ECHELON (Also known as Echelont), originally a secret government code name, is a surveillance program (signals intelligence/SIGINT collection and analysis network) operated by the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement:[1] Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, also known as the Five Eyes.[2][3][4]

Created in the late 1960s to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies during the Cold War, the ECHELON project became formally established in 1971.[5][6] By the end of the 20th century, it had greatly expanded.[7]

  1. ^ Given the 5 dialects that use the terms, UKUSA can be pronounced from "You-Q-SA" to "Oo-Coo-SA", AUSCANNZUKUS can be pronounced from "Oz-Can-Zuke-Us" to "Orse-Can-Zoo-Cuss".
    From Talk:UKUSA Agreement: "Per documents officially released by both the Government Communications Headquarters and the National Security Agency, this agreement is referred to as the UKUSA Agreement. This name is subsequently used by media sources reporting on the story, as written in new references used for the article. The NSA press release provides a pronunciation guide, indicating that "UKUSA" should not be read as two separate entities."(The National Archives)". Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (National Security Agency) Archived 16 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine"
  2. ^ "UK 'biggest spy' among the Five Eyes". News Corp Australia. 22 June 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  3. ^ Google books – Echelon by John O'Neill
  4. ^ "AUSCANNZUKUS Information Portal". auscannzukus.net. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
  5. ^ "Q&A: What you need to know about Echelon". BBC. 29 May 2001. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  6. ^ Nabbali, Talitha; Perry, Mark (March 2004). "Going for the throat". Computer Law & Security Review. 20 (2): 84–97. doi:10.1016/S0267-3649(04)00018-4. It wasn't until 1971 that the UKUSA allies began ECHELON
  7. ^ Schmid, Gerhard (11 July 2001). "On the existence of a global system for the interception of private and commercial communications (ECHELON interception system), (2001/2098(INI))". European Parliament: Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2013.