The Minister of State for European Affairs, Clément Bonn, told Radio France Info today that France will “verify the data” which he said was “potentially dangerous.”
According to the foreign minister, the French investigation will try to find out whether “the Danes, France’s allies in the European Union” have made mistakes or not “cooperated” with US intelligence services, and whether European political leaders “have been heard”.
Clement Boone added that France knows that “this kind of event can happen,” as evidenced by the revelation of former US agent Edward Snowden about the practices of the US National Security Agency (NSA).
Danish public television broadcasts news citing an internal report from Copenhagen’s intelligence services on the NSA’s “submarine cable” espionage work.
The targets of the American wiretapping, according to the House of Representatives, were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as opposition candidates: Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Pierre Steinbrueck.
In addition to German politicians, news reports indicate that senior officials from France, Sweden and Norway have also been targeted, but their identities are unknown.
To carry out the wiretaps, the NSA took advantage of the cooperation of the Danish Military Intelligence (FE).
The Danish TV station revealed the information after a press investigation that included the Swedish station SVT, the Norwegian channel NRK, the German channels NDR and WDR, the newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung in Germany and Le Monde in France.
Danish Defense Minister Tren Bramsen, appointed in June 2019, was informed of the wiretapping in August 2020, according to DR TV News.
The minister told Copenhagen TV that “systematic espionage by the Allies is unacceptable,” but he declined to make any other statements, especially to Agence France-Presse.
According to the same news, the NSA had access to text messages via cell phones (SMS) as well as text messages exchanged via mobile phone messaging apps and inquiries made on the Internet by targets.
The NSA’s espionage actions are contained in an internal Danish intelligence report codenamed “Operation Dunhammer” and presented to the Copenhagen Service Summit in May 2015, according to Dr.
The Danish television station reported that the data was confirmed by nine sources who have access to classified information from the intelligence services in Copenhagen.
The Danish intelligence chief at the time, Lars Wiesen, refused to answer questions.
Details of the espionage case, if confirmed, were initially revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden, an NSA agent who had been on the run in Russia from the moment he uncovered the wiretapping system of US intelligence agencies.
In November 2020, the same Danish TV station reported that the United States used Danish submarine cables to spy on defense industries in Denmark and “other European countries” between 2012 and 2015.
“Hardcore alcohol maven. Hipster-friendly analyst. Introvert. Devoted social media advocate.”
