What reasons lie behind the secrecy surrounding Echelon?
Fink: There are two reasons: on the one side, prosecutors have no interest in having their entire operation laid out in the open. There is no disclaimer. One simply doesn’t say anything. On the other side, any… German officials with the power to say something has until now remained quiet in order to prevent putting any inter-governmental projects at risk. The government didn’t want to jeopardise the NATO alliance. But both France and England have their own spy satellites, as does China. This… weighs greatly upon EU partnerships. What kind of costs are associated with Echelon’s activities? Fink: The budget granted for these kinds of operations amount to billions of dollars a year. Estimates as to how many people work for the National Security Agency (NSA) vary between 140,000 and 170,000. They of course employ only top people, the best mathematicians, used in unimaginable hacking/calculus centres. Hardware isn’t an issue there either. Though secret services of this sort have their o
