WikiLeaks: US Diplomats Spied On UN Leadership Including UN Views On Sri Lanka
May 3, 2012By Colombo Telegraph -
In 2010 The Guardian broke the story “US
diplomats spied on UN leadership” based on a leaked US diplomatic
cable which explains how Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign
targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon and the permanent security council representatives from
China, Russia, France and the UK. US also spied on UN views on Sri Lanka the
Colombo Telegraph can reveal today.
Hillary Clinton
“A
classified directive which appears to blur the line between diplomacy and spying
was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton’s name in July 2009, demanding
forensic technical details about the communications systems used by top UN
officials, including passwords and personal encryption keys used in private and
commercial networks for official communications.” The Guardian said.
It called
for detailed biometric information ”on key UN officials, to include
undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their chief advisers, top
SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations and political field
missions, including force commanders” as well as intelligence on Ban’s
“management and decision-making style and his influence on the
secretariat”.
Washington
also wanted credit card numbers, email addresses, phone, fax and pager numbers
and even frequent-flyer account numbers for UN figures and “biographic and
biometric information on UN Security Council permanent representatives”.
The
secret “national human intelligence collection directive” was sent to US
missions at the UN in New York, Vienna and Rome; 33 embassies and consulates,
including those in London, Paris and Moscow.
The
operation targeted at the UN appears to have involved all of Washington’s main
intelligence agencies. The CIA’s clandestine service, the US Secret Service and
the FBI were included in the “reporting and collection needs” cable alongside
the state department under the heading “collection requirements and
tasking”.
The Colombo Telegraph found the related US
diplomatic cable from the Secretary of State section of the WikiLeaks database.
The cable was classified as “SECRET” signed by Hillary Clinton on July 31,
2009.
Under
the subheading “Human Rights and War Crimes (HRWC-3)” Clinton asked to collect
“Views and intentions of UNSC, UN human rights entities, and members regarding
Sri Lankan government policies on human rights and humanitarian assistance; UN
views about appointing a Special Envoy for Sri Lanka.”
