These White Boxes Hiding in Plain
Sight All Over the World May Be a U.S. Government Spy Tool
Oct. 30, 2013 7:42am Sharona
Schwartz
The German newspaper Der Spiegel
over the weekend revealed that not only did the U.S.
monitor the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it also allegedly
utilized the American embassy in Berlin
as a listening station by means of a windowless structure filled with hi-tech
gadgetry on the roof to monitor cellphone and other sensitive communications.
An Israeli intelligence analyst
has now discovered similar mysterious white structures positioned on the
rooftops of many key American embassies including in Beijing,
Moscow, and Tel
Aviv and published the photos to support his claims. While the structures
appear to have a solid exterior, they are actually permeable by communication
signals, according to the German report.
Der Spiegel described attic-like
rooms positioned on the roof of the embassy in Berlin from which the CIA and NSA are able
to monitor “a large part of cellphone communication” in the epicenter of the
German government, calling the operation “a nest of espionage.”
The paper, which cites both German
and U.S.
sources, reports that the structures are designed to appear as integral parts
of the buildings, but in reality they hide technology used for sophisticated
electronic surveillance. It reports that the structures are covered by a
material “permeable even by weak radio signals.”
Intelligence analyst Ronen Solomon
tells the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv that the “boxes” conceal “very advanced
wiretapping devices.”
Solomon examined photographs of
the white structures on the roofs of the U.S.
embassies in Tel Aviv, Madrid, Moscow, Beijing, Berlin and Stockholm.
“In all of the cases, it seems as
though the ‘cubes,’ while appearing as part of the structure, are actually
construction supplements. If the findings of Der Spiegel are correct, then the US intelligence
agency’s listening devices are dispersed around the world,” Ma’ariv reported.
Here is a montage of the photos
published on the Hebrew website Ma’ariv:
Israeli officials say that they
are not surprised by the reports and that the assumption in Israel has always
been that “the US listens in on all of the conversations taking place in the
Middle East, as well as in Europe, especially if they are unencrypted,” the
paper reports.
For this reason, Israeli defense
officials are prohibited from discussing “top secret” information over any
phone line, even encrypted ones. Classified information can be conveyed only
via envelopes with a wax seal, Maariv reports.
Spiegel cited a “top secret” NSA
document from 2010 which revealed a unit called the “Special Collection
Service” (SCS) which operates in 80 locations overseas including in Berlin,
Madrid, Paris and Rome. The paper described the unit as “an elite corps run in
concert by the US
intelligence agencies NSA and CIA.”
Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom
told Ma’ariv on Friday that he is “certain” the U.S.
“has been listening in on its allies, including Israel.”
The Times of Israel reports Yatom
believes the U.S. is most
likely spying on Israel to
learn more about the government’s position on negotiations with the Palestinians
and about Iran’s
nuclear program.
“It is important for them to know
what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really thinks…They have interests here
because they want to be able to contend with Israeli claims that arise when
talking about these issues,” the Times of Israel quoted Yatom as saying.
While TheBlaze has not verified
the photos shown by Ma’ariv, other online photos of various U.S. embassies
do appear to show boxlike structures on the roofs.
Ma’ariv’s full report was
translated to English on the website of Israel Defense magazine and can be
found here.
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