THE Australian High Commission in Port Moresby was named as one of the many clandestine surveillance sites being used by Australian spies to intercept phone calls and monitor online activities within PNG and across Asia Pacific, an Australian newspaper has reported. The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday reported that Australian embassies were being secretly used as surveillance collection facilities for the United States, as part of a secret operation codenamed “stateroom”.
Details of the report leaked by American whistleblower Edward Snowden were published by a German newspaper, and cited Australian embassies in Jakarta, Bangkok, Hanoi, Beijing and Dili, and High Commissions in Kuala Lumpur and Port Moresby being used as bases for “stateroom”, run by the Australian Defence Signals Directorate. The damning revelations are likely to cause a stir in PNG and Australia diplomatic relations with sources in PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s office already commenting that the revelation of clandestine eavesdropping on PNG leaders was a matter of national security. They believe that the Prime Minister, Chief Secretary and some key government ministers have had their phones tapped. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is in Brisbane and is likely to make a comment when he returns. Newly-appointed National Intelligence Organisation Director-General Gari Baki, when contacted, said: “While it is widely known that such activity is possible, It is part of NIO’s responsibility to be on top of it and such information is to be forwarded to the top echelon of our Government if not then our NIO is no way closer, and we have to shape up.” The Sydney Morning Herald had reported that Snowden, who leaked the sensitive information about US surveillance programs, leaked another secret document from the US National Security Agency which reveals details of a highly sensitive intelligence collection program. The document was published by Germany’s Der Speigel newspaper and it provides information on a program codenamed “stateroom”. The program involved the interception of radio, telecommunications and internet traffic and is revealed to be in operation “at Australian diplomatic facilities”. The document noted that the surveillance facilities “are small in size and in number of personnel staffing them”. “They are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned,” the document says. The Australian High Commission in Port Moresby declined to comment but an official said their response would be the same as published in the Sydney Morning Herald quoting a departmental spokesperson from their Department of Foreign Affairs who said: “It is the long-standing practice of Australian governments not to comment on intelligence matters.” The leaked NSA document, according to the newspaper, does not identify the location of specific Defence Signals Directorate facilities overseas. However, a former Australian defence intelligence officer told Fairfax Media the directorate conducts surveillance operations from Australian embassies across Asia and the Pacific. The former intelligence officer said the interception facility at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta played an important role in collecting intelligence on terrorist threats and people-smuggling, “but the main focus is political, diplomatic and economic intelligence”. “The huge growth of mobile phone networks has been a great boon and Jakarta's political elite are a loquacious bunch; even when they think their own intelligence services are listening they just keep talking,” the source said. He said the Australian Consulate in Denpasar, Bali, has also been used for signals intelligence collection. In PNG, intelligence leaks to the media in the 1980s disclosed the installation of “extraordinarily sophisticated” intercept equipment in the High Commission in Port Moresby and in the Australian embassies in Jakarta and Bangkok. Further leaks of top secret defence intelligence reports on Indonesia and East Timor in 1999 also indicated that Australia intelligence has extensive access to sensitive Indonesian military and civilian communications. PNG Facts / Post Courier Comments are closed.
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