Today,
23 February 2016 at 00:00 GMT [updated 12:20 GMT], WikiLeaks publishes
highly classified documents showing that the US National Security Agency
bugged a private climate change strategy meeting;
between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and German Chancellor Angela
Merkel in Berlin; singled out the Chief of Staff of UN High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) for long term interception targetting his Swiss phone; singled out the Director of the Rules Division of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Johann Human, and targetted his Swiss phone for long term interception; stole sensitive Italian diplomatic cables
detailing how Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to help patch up his
relationship with US President Barack Obama, who was refusing to talk to
Netanyahu; intercepted top EU and Japanese trade ministers
discussing their secret strategy and red lines to stop the US
"extort[ing]" them at the WTO Doha arounds (the talks subsequently
collapsed); explicitly targetted five other top EU economic officials
for long term interception, including their French, Austrian and Belgium phone numbers; explicitly targetted the phones of Italy's ambassador to NATO and other top Italian officials for long term interception; and intercepted details
of a critical private meeting between then French president Nicolas
Sarkozy, Merkel and Berluscon, where the latter was told the Italian
banking system was ready to "pop like a cork".
Some of the intercepts are classified TOP-SECRET COMINT-GAMMA and are the most highly classified documents ever published by a media organization.
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange said "Today we proved the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's private meetings over how to save the planet from climate change were bugged by a country intent on protecting its largest oil companies. Back in 2010 we revealed that the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered her diplomats to steal the UN leadership's biometric data and other information. The US government has signed agreements with the UN that it will not engage in such conduct. It will be interesting to see the UN's reaction, because if the United Nations Secretary General, whose communications and person have legal inviolability, can be repeatedly attacked without consequence then everyone is at risk."
The NSA data for this release: UN Sec Gen & Merkel intercept, UNHCR & WTO target selectors and assignments, Netanyahu-Berlusconi-Sarkozy-Merkel intercepts, EU-Japan WTO/Doha trade talks strategy intercept, EU & Belgium MFA target selectors and assignments and Italy target selectors and assignments.
Some of the intercepts are classified TOP-SECRET COMINT-GAMMA and are the most highly classified documents ever published by a media organization.
WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange said "Today we proved the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's private meetings over how to save the planet from climate change were bugged by a country intent on protecting its largest oil companies. Back in 2010 we revealed that the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered her diplomats to steal the UN leadership's biometric data and other information. The US government has signed agreements with the UN that it will not engage in such conduct. It will be interesting to see the UN's reaction, because if the United Nations Secretary General, whose communications and person have legal inviolability, can be repeatedly attacked without consequence then everyone is at risk."
The NSA data for this release: UN Sec Gen & Merkel intercept, UNHCR & WTO target selectors and assignments, Netanyahu-Berlusconi-Sarkozy-Merkel intercepts, EU-Japan WTO/Doha trade talks strategy intercept, EU & Belgium MFA target selectors and assignments and Italy target selectors and assignments.
| TOPI | Selector | Subscriber_ID | Information_Need | TOPI_Add_Date | Priority | IN_Explainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S2C32 | +4122739XXXX | WT7 WTO RULES DIV DIR JOHANN HUMAN 4D1 | 2002-2656* | 110309 | 3 | Multi-country: G-8 Summit Preparations and Implications for Trade Talks |
| S2C52 | +4122739XXXX | BERNARD DOYLE UNHCR | 2003-3122* | 110311 | 2 | United Nations: Political Affairs |
| S2C52 | +4122739XXXX | UNHCR COS | 2003-3122* | 101214 | 2 | United Nations: Political Affairs |
| TOPI | "Target Office of Primary Interest", the unit within NSA tasked to process the collected interceptions. |
| Selector | A communications identifier, in this case a phone number, used to select communications for interception. |
| Subscriber_ID | This is an identifier describing the owner of the provided phone number. |
| Information_Need | "Information Needs" (IN) are collection requirements devised as part of the National SIGINT Requirement Process and generally produced by analysts in a broad format (e.g. understanding French economic intentions) and used to produce responses to demands of U.S. policy makers. INs rarely expire, so despite having the original creation date included in the identifier (e.g. "2002-388*"), they are renewed and they perpetuate over the time. |
| TOPI_Add_Date | Date of tagging of the entry with the responsible TOPI. |
| Priority | Collection priority, the lower the number, the higher the priority. |
| IN_Explainer | This is a brief and generally broad description of the relevant IN. |
Intercepted communication between Japanese and German diplomats reveal
plans and concerns regarding the negotiations on climate change to be
had at the G-8 summit in Copenhagen in 2009.
Original NSA text:
Japan Seeks Long-Term Pact With Specific Figures on Climate Change at G-8 (TS//SI//NF)
(TS//SI//NF) Japan, preparing for its role as chairman of the Group-of-8 (G-8) summit at Lake Toya early in July, has given notice that it intends to strive for a long-term commitment on climate change with specific figures, while Germany believes that the crucial issue at the summit is whether the U.S. will accept going beyond Heiligendamm (the site of last year's G-8 summit) language in the framework of the G-8 if the emerging countries do not accept numerical targets at the Major Economies Meeting (MEM). (According to press reports, leaders from 16 countries, including the members of the G-8 plus China, India, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, and Mexico, plan to discuss climate change on the margins of the G-8 summit in Japan.) Masaharu Kono, Japan's G-8 sherpa, emphasized Tokyo's position in an exchange with his German counterpart, Bernd Pfaffenback, on 17 June, while Pfaffenback provided his country's take on the issues to be addressed at Lake Toya. The German also noted that, in response to a U.S. request, his country would likely give up its demand for a 25- to 45-percent mid-term carbon dioxide reduction at the MEM. In addition, he does not believe that the emerging economies are willing to go beyond the Bali language at present, his feeling being that they prefer instead to wait until next year's G-8 summit in Copenhagen, because they do not wish to give up things now that they might be prepared to give up later. It is also Pfaffenback's position that a failure of the emerging economies to accept a long-term goal with numbers, even in brackets, would pose difficulties for the G-8 and possibly lead to a clash at the summit itself if there is no fallback position.
Unconventional
German leadership, Japanese diplomatic
Z-3/OO/4860-08, 191611Z
(TS//SI//NF) Japan, preparing for its role as chairman of the Group-of-8 (G-8) summit at Lake Toya early in July, has given notice that it intends to strive for a long-term commitment on climate change with specific figures, while Germany believes that the crucial issue at the summit is whether the U.S. will accept going beyond Heiligendamm (the site of last year's G-8 summit) language in the framework of the G-8 if the emerging countries do not accept numerical targets at the Major Economies Meeting (MEM). (According to press reports, leaders from 16 countries, including the members of the G-8 plus China, India, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, South Africa, and Mexico, plan to discuss climate change on the margins of the G-8 summit in Japan.) Masaharu Kono, Japan's G-8 sherpa, emphasized Tokyo's position in an exchange with his German counterpart, Bernd Pfaffenback, on 17 June, while Pfaffenback provided his country's take on the issues to be addressed at Lake Toya. The German also noted that, in response to a U.S. request, his country would likely give up its demand for a 25- to 45-percent mid-term carbon dioxide reduction at the MEM. In addition, he does not believe that the emerging economies are willing to go beyond the Bali language at present, his feeling being that they prefer instead to wait until next year's G-8 summit in Copenhagen, because they do not wish to give up things now that they might be prepared to give up later. It is also Pfaffenback's position that a failure of the emerging economies to accept a long-term goal with numbers, even in brackets, would pose difficulties for the G-8 and possibly lead to a clash at the summit itself if there is no fallback position.
Unconventional
German leadership, Japanese diplomatic
Z-3/OO/4860-08, 191611Z
UNSYG Stresses Importance of EU Leadership Role in Climate Change
| Date | 2008 |
| Classification | TOP SECRET//COMINT-GAMMA//ORCON/NOFORN |
| Synopsis Intercepted communication between UN Segretary-General Ban Ki-moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel reveal Ki-moon's confidence in EU as a necessary leader in the climate change negotiations. UNSYG Stresses Importance of EU Leadership Role in Climate Change (TS//SI-G//OC/NF) (TS//SI-G//OC/NF) UNSYG Ban Ki-moon, in an exchange on 10 December with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pointed out that the world would be watching the EU with "keen interest" for reassurances that it will maintain its leadership role in combating climate change. He believes that the mid-December EU Summit in Brussels will impact on the UN Conference on Climate Change in Poznan as well as the 2009 Copenhagen Talks, stressing that without positive signals and continued leadership from the EU, it would be difficult for the UN to make a commitment in Poznan. Ban also maintained that since the new U.S. administration will have a very engaging and proactive attitude on the issue, the time is right for the EU and the whole world to create conditions necessary for reaching a meaningful deal at the 2009 UN Climate Talks. In that regard, Ban considered the Poznan Conference to be very important as a "bridge" toward Copenhagen. Ban also praised Merkel for her personal efforts regarding the issue of combating climate change and for encouraging other EU leaders to agree on the issue. For her part, Merkel was optimistic that the EU Summit would come to an agreement, although she acknowledged that the tough issue would involve carbon dioxide trading. Both Ban and Merkel favored holding a mini-summit in early 2009 to involve the new U.S. administration, believing that it is important to get a clear idea of U.S. intentions. Merkel believed that the climate-change issue should be discussed at the heads-of-state level, otherwise it would not work. Unidentified UN diplomatic, German leadership Z-G/OO/503904-08, 112153Z | |
