posted on May 16, 2001 10:27:50 AM new
This upsets european allies, and when they try to investigate the Bush administration refuses to meet with them??
"EU row bursts over US spying A group of European parliamentarians has cut short a fact-finding mission to the United States after Bush administration officials refused to meet them. The Europeans are investigating persistent reports that the United States government is passing on commercial secrets gleaned from its Echelon electronic evesdropping network to benefit American companies. The head of the European group, Carlos Coelho, said they were concerned and dismayed that scheduled meetings in Washington with the Commerce and State Departments had suddenly been cancelled at the last minute. Echelon - an intelligence -gathering network set up during the Cold War with the co-operation of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - has grown into a complex international system capable of intercepting billions of phone calls, faxes and e-mails around the world".
--BBC, 5/10/01
