ECHELON and Industrial Espionage: A Closer Look at the United States’ Intelligence Collection Program
Introduction
ECHELON is a global intelligence collection program established during the Cold War by the United States and its partners in the UKUSA Agreement, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. This program primarily focused on intercepting and analyzing electronic communications, such as phone calls, emails, and other data transmissions. One of the key aspects of ECHELON was its satellite ground stations, which were used to capture signals transmitted via satellite. In this article, we will explore the history and development of these ground stations, their role in the ECHELON program, and how they have been implicated in industrial espionage cases.
I. The JACKKNIFE Ground Station
The first United States satellite ground station for the ECHELON collection program, codenamed JACKKNIFE, was built in 1971 at a military firing and training center near Yakima, Washington. The facility was an investment of approximately 21.3 million dollars and employed around 90 people. Satellite traffic was intercepted by a 30-meter single-dish antenna, and the station became fully operational on October 4, 1974. It was connected to the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade via a 75-baud secure Teletype orderwire channel.
II. Pine Gap Facility
In 1999, the Australian Senate Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was informed by Professor Desmond Ball that the Pine Gap facility, located in Australia, was used as a ground station for a satellite-based interception network. The satellites used in this network were large radio dishes between 20 and 100 meters in diameter, placed in geostationary orbits. The primary purpose of this network was to monitor telemetry from 1970s Soviet weapons, air defense systems, radar capabilities, satellite ground stations’ transmissions, and ground-based microwave communications.
III. Industrial Espionage
While the original purpose of the ECHELON program and its associated ground stations was to gather intelligence related to military and political developments, there have been instances where the capabilities of this program have been allegedly used for industrial espionage. The following are examples of cases where ECHELON has been implicated in such activities.
A. Enercon Case
In 1999, Enercon, a German company and leading manufacturer of wind energy equipment, developed a breakthrough generator for wind turbines. After applying for a US patent, Enercon discovered that Kenetech, an American rival company, had submitted an almost identical patent application shortly before. A former NSA employee later claimed that the NSA had secretly intercepted and monitored Enercon’s data communications and conference calls, passing information regarding the new generator to Kenetech.
However, subsequent German media reports contradicted this story, as it was revealed that the American patent in question had actually been filed three years before the alleged wiretapping took place. This discrepancy raised questions about the validity of the initial claims of industrial espionage in this case.
B. German Companies and Industrial Espionage
German intelligence services are legally prohibited from engaging in industrial or economic espionage. This limitation has led to complaints from German companies, who argue that they are left defenseless against industrial espionage efforts by the United States or Russia. Wolfgang Hoffmann, a former manager at Bayer, has claimed that German intelligence services know which companies are being targeted by US intelligence agencies but refuse to inform the companies involved.
Conclusion
The ECHELON collection program and its satellite ground stations, such as JACKKNIFE and Pine Gap, have played a significant role in intelligence gathering efforts by the United States and its allies since the Cold War. While the primary purpose of these facilities was to monitor military and political developments, allegations of industrial espionage have also been linked to the program.
