This afternoon, White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer refused to comment on questions about a story broken by the Observer newspaper in London. On Sunday the paper published an article headlined “Revealed: U.S. Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War.”

The Observer reported that it has obtained a top secret U.S. National Security Agency memo outlining the surveillance of both office and home communications of UN delegates from Security Council member countries.

The high-priority memo was from Frank Koza, chief of staff in the “Regional Targets” section of the NSA, on January 31 — shortly before Colin Powell’s presentation to the Security Council.

The NSA document states that the Agency “is mounting a surge particularly directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members” for “insights as to how” members are “reacting to the on-going [Iraq] debate.” It cited “policies” and “negotiating positions” that member states “may be considering,” as well as “alliances,” “dependencies” and “the whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to head off surprises.”

The memo specifically addressed “efforts against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters.” It also emphasized paying “attention to existing non-UNSC member UN-related and domestic comms [communications] for anything useful related to the UNSC deliberations…”

The Observer article is available at: www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905936,00.html
The NSA document is available at: www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905954,00.html

The following are available for interviews:

MARTIN BRIGHT
One of the authors of the Observer article, Bright said today: “Clearly someone within the NSA or another friendly agency is unhappy. Otherwise, this memo would not have been leaked.”

JAMES PAUL
Director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors the UN, Paul said today: “People expected such activity goes on, but this new information will add to the resentment against the U.S. government.”
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EMMA ETUK
Author of Listen Africans: Freedom Is Under Fire!, Etuk said today: “The U.S. government says it’s for democracy, but if you want democracy, you don’t use subterfuge and intimidation.”
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WAYNE MADSEN
A former communications security specialist for the National Security Agency, Madsen is currently a senior fellow at the Electronic Privacy and Information Center.
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167