(Updated: August 9, 2017)
On Feb 4, the Dutch authorities admitted that it was non NSA that collected 1,8 ane thou 1000 metadata from telephone calls of Dutch citizens, but genuinely their ain armed forces intelligence service MIVD. They gathered those information from unusual communications together with afterward shared them alongside partner agencies similar NSA.
Just similar everyone else, the Dutch interior government minister was mislead past times how Glenn Greenwald erroneously interpreted the information shown inward screenshots from the NSA tool BOUNDLESSINFORMANT. This permit him misinform the Dutch world together with parliament too, together with only after beingness faced alongside a lawsuit, he finally disclosed the truth. Here's the total story.
How it started
The get-go charts from the BOUNDLESSINFORMANT tool were published past times the High German mag Der Spiegel on July 29, 2013. Next to a bigger nautical chart virtually Deutschland was a smaller ane virtually the Netherlands, but this was completely overseen past times Dutch media.
Only after the French paper Le Monde came alongside a large even virtually alleged NSA eavesdropping on French citizens on Oct 20, 2013, the Dutch information technology website Tweakers.net published on Oct 21 virtually the screenshot that was inward Der Spiegel several months before:
The study past times Tweakers.net was right inward explaining that the nautical chart only shows metadata, but the headline initially read "NSA intercepted 1.8 ane thou 1000 phonecalls inward the Netherlands". It was the get-go fourth dimension a word medium correctly presented the BOUNDLESSINFORMANT nautical chart every bit showing metadata instead of content.
But every bit the initial headline had immediatly been copied past times other media, many people, including politicians, got the sentiment that NSA was genuinely eavesdropping on a vast number of Dutch telephone calls. After discussing this on Twitter, Tweakers corrected the championship past times adding "metadata" together with "per month".
> See also: BOUNDLESSINFORMANT only shows metadata
A talkative minister
On the nighttime of Oct 22, the Dutch interior government minister Ronald Plasterk was asked virtually these revelations inward the belatedly nighttime verbalize exhibit Pauw & Witteman. He gave a clear explanation virtually what metadata are used for, together with guessed that alongside closed to 60.000 telephone calls per hateful solar daytime betwixt the Netherlands together with the United States, this would brand 1,8 ane thou 1000 calls per calendar month - apperently assuming that numbers of metadata equals telephone calls.
He said that he wasn't yet sure as shooting whether it was genuinely NSA that collected those metadata from Dutch phonecalls, but that a European grouping of experts was established to clarify this alongside the Americans. The government minister said that it would non live acceptable if NSA was monitoring Dutch citizens without bespeak permission from the Dutch authorities before doing so.
According to a declaration past times the interior government minister during the parliamentary debate on Feb 11, 2014, it was only past times straight off that AIVD together with MIVD started communicating alongside NSA virtually the exact origins of these detail data. It would in conclusion four weeks to larn this clear - rather quick, according to the minister.
Before this bilateral investigation was initiated, it seems that the Dutch authorities was relying on the locomote of a multinational grouping of experts on behalf of 27 European countries. This advertizement hoc EU-US Working Group was established inward July 2013 to examine the NSA spying programs. Their final study (pdf) was published on Nov 27.
Besides this grouping of experts, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice together with Home Affairs of the European Parliament also started an inquiry inward September 2013, presented preliminary conclusions on Dec xviii together with a final study (pdf) on Feb 21.
Dutch interior government minister Ronald Plasterk inward the verbalize exhibit Pauw & Witteman
(October 22, 2013 - inward Dutch)
Almost ane calendar week later, on Oct 28, the Castilian paper El Mundo also published a screenshot from BOUNDLESSINFORMANT. The article, written past times Glenn Greenwald together with a Castilian journalist, ane time over again said the nautical chart proved that NSA had spied on lx ane thou 1000 phonecalls from Kingdom of Spain inward ane month.
This was the touchstone interpretation that Greenwald gave to BOUNDLESSINFORMANT charts for Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan together with Italy. He used them to demonstrate the claim made past times Edward Snowden, that NSA is eavesdropping on innocent people everywhere inward the world.
By framing Earth debate inward this way, most people, including politicians, assumed these claims were true, together with thus it was for representative the Dutch interior minister, responsible for the civilian intelligence together with safety service AIVD, who was asked for explanation. Only people familiar alongside Dutch intelligence knew that SIGINT collection is genuinely done past times the NSO, which is purpose of the armed forces intelligence agency MIVD.
NSA strikes back
On Oct 29, NSA manager Keith Alexander Nieuwsuur on Oct 30. According to a reconstruction past times the paper NRC Handelsblad, he was advised past times Defense government minister Hennis-Plasschaert non to go, because her department, responsible for Dutch SIGINT collection through the MIVD, was irritated past times Plasterk's willingness to verbalize virtually this issue.
Before going to Nieuwsuur, Plasterk had a coming together alongside Marc Kuipers, the deputy manager of his ain AIVD together with asked him virtually the metadata. He was told that at that topographic point was no difficult evidence that the declaration of NSA was correct, together with Kuipers reportedly denied that the 1,8 ane thou 1000 metadata were collected past times Dutch agencies. As their research started only a calendar week before, AIVD manifestly wasn't sure as shooting yet virtually the exact origins of these information (it took the High German BND only a calendar week to uncovering out that they collected the 'German' metadata *)
During the Nieuwsuur broadcast, government minister Plasterk showed the explained on Nov 23, that Greenwald's interpretation of these charts was non correct, which became clear after comparison ii screenshots published past times Greenwald inward a Norwegian paper inward the days before.
H5N1 few days later, on Nov 27, I published my research revealing that the DRTBox technique used to collect the metadata shown inward the charts virtually France, Spain, Italy, Kingdom of Norway together with Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan is mainly used for short-range radio together with jail cellphone telephone interception during armed forces operations.
Not NSA, but MIVD
These analysis non only back upwards the official declaration past times NSA, but also confirm what the intelligence agencies from Germany together with Norway had said earlier: that the metadata shown inward the charts were collected past times them every bit purpose of armed forces operations abroad, together with non past times NSA (exactly the same was said past times the Danish armed forces intelligence service, anticipating on a nautical chart virtually Kingdom of Denmark that never came).
After an investigation of precisely four weeks, experts from AIVD together with MIVD, who compared actual information collected past times the SIGINT unit of measurement NSO alongside information inward the systems of their counterparts from NSA, concluded that at that topographic point was a "perfect match". This was shared alongside defence government minister Hennis together with interior government minister Plasterk on Nov 22. Prime government minister Mark Rutte was informed during a regular coming together on Dec 10.
After it became clear that the metadata were non collected past times NSA, but past times the Dutch agency MIVD, the whole lawsuit automatically became something that was non inward the involvement of the province to let on (although non a formal province secret). The interior together with the defence government minister argued virtually whether to inform parliament together with the public, similar inward Deutschland together with Norway, but ultimately decided non to create so, next the touchstone do to Never Say Anything virtually the modus operandi of the intelligence together with safety services.
This is a rather unusual argumentation, every bit "collecting together with sharing (meta)data" doesn't reveal whatever specific methods or operations. Both practices are regularly mentioned inward Earth reports of MIVD together with the oversight commission CTIVD. But every bit almost no ane reads these, the parliament together with the people notwithstanding sentiment it was NSA that monitored their telephone calls.
Presently, it's notwithstanding non clear whether or non the authorities informed the parliamentary intelligence oversight commission (CIVD or Commissie Stiekem), because ministers together with members aren't fifty-fifty allowed to advert which topics were discussed during the commission meetings.
Update #1:
According to an article from Feb 18, 2014 past times statement saying:
"The graph inward query points out circa 1.8 ane thou 1000 records of metadata that receive got been collected past times the National Sigint Organization (NSO) inward the context of counter-terrorism together with armed forces operations abroad. It is thus expressly information collected inward the context of statutory duties. The information are legitimately shared alongside the the States inward the low-cal of international cooperation on the issues mentioned above."
This was exact the reverse of what interior government minister Plasterk had said during the Nieuwsuur broadcast on Oct xxx together with afterward to parliament. He was defendant of lying or at to the lowest degree witholding crucial information together with straight off had to fearfulness for his position.
On Saturday, Feb 8, the paper BOUNDLESSINFORMANT: metadata collection past times Dutch MIVD instead of NSA
On Feb 11, at that topographic point was a parliamentary debate virtually the whole issue. Interior government minister Plasterk sincerely apologized for his misleading statements on Oct 30, proverb that he only wanted to brand sure as shooting to Earth that it was non his ain AIVD that eavesdropped on Dutch citizens.
This declaration was hardly convincing, together with many parliament members were non satisfied alongside the fact that he didn't right his declaration after he was informed virtually the truth on Nov 22. Both the interior together with the defence government minister continuously replied that it was non inward the involvement of the province to supply whatever to a greater extent than information.
Given this overstretched secrecy, it almost seemed a sideslip of the natural language when government minister Plasterk explained that because "under dissimilar programs, dissimilar types of metadata are shared" it was non together with so slow to attribute the 1,8 ane thou 1000 to collection past times MIVD.
After a debate of almost 8 hours, most opposition parties voted against the interior minister, but that wasn't plenty to forcefulness a resignation. However, the whole thing weakened his position, he can't afford novel mistakes anymore.
Conclusion
With claims made past times Edward Snowden that NSA is monitoring innocent civilians all over the globe beingness spread past times media for months, it's understandable that the BOUNDLESSINFORMANT charts were seen every bit evidence for American spying on European countries. Glenn Greenwald presented them inward that way to major European newspapers together with supported his interpretation past times a FAQ document proverb that this tool shows "How many records (and what type) are collected against a detail country".
But straight off that it has larn clear this interpretation was false, it also reveals that Greenwald manifestly relied exclusively on these few documents, together with was unaware of what the charts genuinely show. I retrieve nosotros receive got to assume that Snowden also had no sentiment virtually their factual context, permit lone whatever sense alongside the programme - if he had, it would live fifty-fifty worse.
The whole even virtually BOUNDLESSINFORMANT non only backfired upon Snowden together with Greenwald, but also upon several European governments, for representative the Castilian together with the French ones, who fiercly protested against the alleged US spying on their countries, together with of course of study the Dutch one, where interior government minister Plasterk was almost forced to resign because of the misinterpretation of the BOUNDLESSINFORMANT chart.
Update:
In July 2017, a Dutch journalist involved alongside the Snowden revelations said on Twitter that the 1,8 ane thou 1000 records stand upwards for some 12 ane thou 1000 pieces of metadata (which way ane tape consists of at to the lowest degree vi fields) together with that the Dutch Ministry of Defence had confirmed that they were collected from Somalia.
Links together with Sources
- Le Monde/BugBrother: Broken oversight & the 1.8M PSTN records collected past times the Dutch National Sigint Organization
- DutchNews.nl: The Netherlands, non USA, gathered information from 1.8 ane thou 1000 telephone calls
- NRC.nl: NSA hielp Nederland met onderzoek naar herkomst 1,8 miljoen
- Defensie.nl: MIVD: Interceptie van telecommunicatie
- VoiceOfRussia.com: Denmark admits to tapping phones inward conflict zones abroad
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