According to the Danmarks Radio (DR), a public broadcaster in Denmark, the American National Security Agency (NSA) “took advantage” of its “surveillance collaboration” with the Danish Intelligence Service (FE) during Barrack Obama’s presidency, and spied on several top officials and political leaders in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France.
The alleged spying took place around the time of the 2013 Snowden controversy, during which former NSA contractor Edward Snowden exposed documents that detailed incidents of surveillance by the United States following the September 11, 2001 attack. Following this, an internal report, titled “Operation Dunhammer,” drafted by intelligence officials from the FE, was submitted to the top management of Danish military intelligence.
The recent investigation was jointly conducted by DR and public broadcasters in Sweden, Norway, Germany, and France. The report said that data was extracted from the underwater internet cables, for which the Danish intelligence had even constructed a data facility. The DR said that Danish Defence Minister Trine Bramsen, who was appointed in June 2019, was informed about this in August 2020. Speaking to the broadcaster, she said that such “systematic eavesdropping of close allies is unacceptable.” However, she refused to make any further comments on the issue.
The list of the political leaders who were spied on includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel and erstwhile Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. While it said that several officials from France, Norway, and Sweden were victims of these operations, their names were not published in the report. The report said that the aim was to target these countries’ defence sectors, wherein the American agency was allowed access to text messages, telephonic conversations, search histories, and other chats and messages communicated through the internet.
Several European leaders raised concern about the report. Steinmeier, who is also currently serving as the German President, said that it was “grotesque” that “friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries.” Meanwhile, Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist called for “full information” on the scandal. In addition, Norway’s Defence Minister, Bakke-Jensen, said that the allegations were being taken seriously by the Norwegian authorities.
Following the DR report on Sunday, Snowden took to Twitter to accuse Joe Biden, who was the US Vice-President at the time, of being “deeply involved in this scandal the first time around.” Snowden, who was charged by the American government for wilfully disclosing classified communication, is currently in Russia seeking refuge.
Moreover, these are not the first allegations against the Danish military intelligence. Last year, the head of Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Service, Lars Findsen, was suspended after his agency was accused of spying on the country’s citizens for six years. A report by a local Danish media house said that the agency was acquiring and sharing data on its citizens. Following this, Bramsen initiated an investigation. Hence, the latest scandal acts as another blow to the Danish intelligence agency.