Fido finds the drugs, the story continues, because customs officers have been alerted to look at a particular container by a communications intercept from a country not a million miles away from Colombia. Electronic eavesdropping, therefore, is a socially useful activity. The ambassador has been talking about Fido because some concerned Euro-MPs think otherwise. Thanks to their efforts, the interception of communications will be raised at an EU meeting in Brussels today. Jack Straw and fellow interior ministers are to have what British officials hope will be no more than a brief lunchtime tour d'horizon of the nether world.
All governments spy, at home and abroad.
None really want to open this can of worms. A parliamentary committee is investigating allegations that Echelon, run by the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, has been used to spy on European companies. French MEPs are incensed by reports that the US used it to beat the European consortium Airbus to a deal with Saudi Arabia. Britain is squirming because the issue has been presented as one where a choice has to be made between the US and Europe. Fido's contribution to the drugs war is designed to divert attention from the fact that most intelligence is clearly not shared with our 14 partners.