The Danish Press recently reported that the United States’ (US) National Security Agency (NSA) collaborated with the Danish Defense Intelligence Service to get information about the Eurofighter Typhoon, JAS-39 Gripen and the Defense Company Terma back in 2015.
The NSA reportedly tapped Telephone Information and E-Mail Correspondences possibly to gain some advantage or seal the US’ win as around that time Denmark was just about to choose a new Fighter Aircraft that will replace their F-16 Fighting Falcon Aircraft.
The Danish Government eventually chose the US’ F-35 Lightning II as the Winner of that competition.
If they can do that to their Allies like Denmark, then how much more the Philippines? And again you will only read this type of News from Pages like mine because the Philippine Pres refuses to report it since it is against the US’ interests, especially now that the next US President will be from their close ally, the US’ Democratic Party.
Below is the English Translation of the Danish Article by Google Translate:
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Sources: NSA snuck into the Danish billion-Dollar purchase of Fighter Jets
The intelligence service NSA spied on European competitors for American fighter jets, DR News learns.
BY NIELS FASTRUP, LISBETH QUASS, LASSE LINDEGAARD AND HENRIK MOLTKE
NOV 16 AT 05:45
European fighter jets were a major target of US espionage, as an internal whistleblower from the Defense Intelligence Service (FE) around 2015 described in a number of reports to the FE leadership.
DR Nyheder experiences this from several independent sources who have had insight into the reports.
According to the sources, the American intelligence service NSA used a collaboration with FE to tap Danish internet cables for information to spy on, among others, the European fighter Eurofighter, the Swedish Gripen fighter from Saab and the Danish defense company Terma, which supplies components for the American fighter Joint Strike Fighter F-35.
According to DR News' information, the suspected espionage took place through an extremely advanced spy program, which the NSA and FE use to search for, for example, telephone information or content in e-mail correspondence.
- They are deep inside and dig into some Danish industrial secrets, which is usually what we accuse the Chinese of doing all the time, says intelligence researcher Tobias Liebetrau from the Center for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen.
According to DR News' information, the NSA's suspected espionage took place at a crucial time in Denmark's military billion purchases, where the politicians at Christiansborg had to decide which type of fighter jet should replace the aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets.
The USA had two fighter jets in the running - Boeing's Superhornet and Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter F-35 - which was up against the European Eurofighter and Swedish Saab's fighter Gripen.
In May 2016, the then Danish government stated that it had been decided to buy 27 F-35 aircraft, whose purchase price at the time was around DKK 16 billion.
- The F-35 has the greatest potential for promoting Danish interests both in terms of security policy and military strategy, said the then Minister of Defense Peter Christensen (V) at a press conference on the purchase of fighter aircraft in May 2016.
It has not been possible for DR News to determine exactly what the US intelligence service was trying to achieve by spying on the European fighter companies.
But the Americans may have had a clear interest in getting as much information as possible about the competitors for the American fighter jets and about the Danish decision-making process, assesses Professor Jens Ringsmose from the University of Southern Denmark.
- Denmark is in a situation where you have to decide whether you want to buy an American aircraft, a European aircraft or a Nordic aircraft in the form of the Swedish-produced Saab aircraft, says Jens Ringsmose, who has researched fighter aircraft purchasing.
- And the countries and manufacturers are doing what they can to promote the chances of the various aircraft to win the competition.
- Support own industry
The NSA has previously been caught spying on partners' defense industries, including European Eurocopter and EADS, now called Airbus.
But it is still surprising that the NSA uses the Danish-American cooperation to spy on the Danish fighter jet procurement, assesses intelligence researcher Tobias Liebetrau.
- It leads to the idea that the Americans may have used this to support their own industry in relation to the production and sale of fighter jets, and it is supercritical and really something that surprises me, he says.
It is also in this light that intelligence researcher at Lund University Tony Ingesson sees the American espionage against Swedish Saab's Gripen fighter jets.
- There has been a competitive relationship between Swedish and American fighter jets in a number of different fighter aircraft purchases. It cannot be ruled out that it may be such purely financial interests that have played a role in this, says the Swedish researcher to SVT, which covers the case in collaboration with DR News.
Swedish Saab does not want to comment on DR News' information about American espionage against the Gripen fighter jet, but admits on a general level, "that a number of players around the world are showing interest in Swedish, high-tech industry".
- We are well aware of this and have long had extensive security work to prevent strategic information from ending up in the wrong hands, says Saab in a comment to SVT.
According to Jens Ringsmose from the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark's fighter procurement is just a drop in the ocean compared to the gigantic orders that a large number of other countries enter into in the field of fighter aircraft.
- But still, it has probably been important for the Americans to sell to us, because you have a chain of countries you want to sell to, and you should preferably make sure that that chain is not broken. So you should preferably avoid that a small, close ally like Denmark, for example, could decide to choose Eurofighter or Saab or something else, he says.
DR Nyheder has requested an interview with Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen (S), Terma, former FE chief Thomas Ahrenkiel, the repatriated collectionchieffrom FE, acting FE chief Svend Larsen and the NSA.
None of them want to be interviewed about the case.
Eurofighter has not responded to a request from DR News.
The repatriated FE chief Lars Findsen, who headed the intelligence service from 2015 to August this year, states in a written comment to DR News that he calmly looks forward to any investigation of the case.
SOURCE: Kilder: NSA snagede i det danske milliardindkøb af kampfly {Archived Link}
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