Japan Made Secret Deals with the NSA that Expanded Global Surveillance
April 24, 2017 6:26 AM   Subscribe

Ryan Gallagher of The Intercept provides a fascinating look at the complex relationship between the US and Japanese surveillance organizations who have been cooperating and surveilling each other since the end of the second World War.

Much of this information was made public by the Snowden Archive but this piece pulls together information Snowden revealed as well as historical information over the decades since Japan began to host the NSA in Japan post-war. That the Japanese public has little information about their own government's surveillance programs is interesting. That The Intercept was able to work with Japan's national broadcaster, NHK, on this story is also of interest.
posted by gen (6 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
A link to the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 wikipedia page, which I knew about but not in the detail that is provided there.

May those who perished rest in peace.
posted by gen at 6:28 AM on April 24, 2017


Fascinating article. This sounds totally Japan:

The NSA participates in a group called the SIGINT Seniors Pacific, which has included surveillance agencies from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, India, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, and Singapore. The group keeps tabs on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region — issues of great interest to Japan, given its geographic location. Yet the country refused to join the meetings. “Japan was the only nation who was actually offered membership but turned it down,” wrote one NSA employee in a March 2007 document. “At the time, Japan expressed concerns that unintended disclosure of its participation would be too high a risk and had other reasons as well.”
posted by My Dad at 7:26 AM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Super interesting that NHK collaborated on this Intercept piece. They usually follow, rather than lead.
posted by My Dad at 7:27 AM on April 24, 2017


The final anecdote about how the NSA spied on Japan to sway a whaling vote just seems like a twist of the knife, lol.
posted by My Dad at 7:30 AM on April 24, 2017




The NHK coverage is much more brief than the content in The Intercept:
Snowden leaks include Japan's security information
posted by gen at 5:50 PM on April 24, 2017


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