ECHELON ECHELON , originally a code - name , is now used in global media and in popular culture to describe a signals intelligence ( SIGINT ) collection and analysis network operated on behalf of the five signatory states to the UKUSA Security Agreement ( Australia , Canada , New Zealand , the United Kingdom , and the United States , referred to by a number of abbreviations , including " AUSCANNZUKUS " and " Five Eyes " ) . It has also been described as the only software system which controls the download and dissemination of the intercept of commercial satellite trunk communications . It was created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies during the Cold War in the early 1960s . By the end of the 20th century , the system referred to as " ECHELON " had evolved beyond its military / diplomatic origins , to also become " . . . a global system for the interception of private and commercial communications . " The system has been reported in a number of public sources . One of the earliest reports to describe the program , code - named " ECHELON , " was the 1988 article , " Somebody ' s listening " by Duncan Campbell in the " New Statesman " . The program ' s capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001 , and by author James Bamford in his books on the National Security Agency of the United States . The European Parliament stated in its report that the term ECHELON is used in a number of contexts , but that the evidence presented indicates that it was the name for a signals intelligence collection system . The report concludes that , on the basis of information presented , ECHELON was capable of interception and content inspection of telephone calls , fax , e - mail and other data traffic globally through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission , public switched telephone network s ( which once carried most Internet traffic ) and microwave links . Bamford describes the system as the software controlling the collection and distribution of civilian telecommunications traffic conveyed using communication satellites , with the collection being undertaken by ground stations located in the footprint of the downlink leg . Organisation . The UKUSA intelligence community was assessed by the European Parliament ( EP ) in 2000 to include the signals intelligence agencies of each of the member states : The EP report concluded that it seemed likely that ECHELON is a method of sorting captured signal traffic , rather than a comprehensive analysis tool . Capabilities . The ability to intercept communications depends on the medium used , be it radio , satellite , microwave , cellular or fiber - optic . During World War II and through the 1950s , high frequency ( " short wave " ) radio was widely used for military and diplomatic communication , and could be intercepted at great distances . The rise of geostationary communications satellites in the 1960s presented new possibilities for intercepting international communications . The report to the European Parliament of 2001 states : " If UKUSA states operate listening stations in the relevant regions of the earth , in principle they can intercept all telephone , fax and data traffic transmitted via such satellites . " The role of satellites in point - to - point voice and data communications has largely been supplanted by fiber optics ; in 2006 , 99 % of the world ' s long - distance voice and data traffic was carried over optical - fiber . The proportion of international communications accounted for by satellite links is said to have decreased substantially over the past few years in Central Europe to an amount between 0 . 4 % and 5 % . Even in less - developed parts of the world , communications satellites are used largely for point - to - multipoint applications , such as video . Thus , the majority of communications can no longer be intercepted by earth stations ; they can only be collected by tapping cables and intercepting line - of - sight microwave signals , which is possible only to a limited extent . One method of interception is to place equipment at locations where fiber optic communications are switched . For the Internet , much of the switching occurs at relatively few sites . There have been reports of one such intercept site , Room 641A , in the United States . In the past much Internet traffic was routed through the U . S . and the UK , but this has changed ; for example , in 2000 , 95 % of intra - German Internet communications was routed via the DE - CIX Internet exchange point in Frankfurt . A comprehensive worldwide surveillance network is possible only if clandestine intercept sites are installed in the territory of friendly nations , and / or if local authorities cooperate . The report to the European Parliament points out that interception of private communications by foreign intelligence services is not necessarily limited to the U . S . or British foreign intelligence services . Most reports on ECHELON focus on satellite interception ; testimony before the European Parliament indicated that separate but similar UK - US systems are in place to monitor communication through undersea cables , microwave transmissions and other lines . The Federation of American Scientists ( FAS ) defines the ECHELON system as follows : Controversy . Intelligence monitoring of citizens , and their communications , in the area covered by the AUSCANNZUKUS security agreement has caused concern . British journalist Duncan Campbell and New Zealand journalist Nicky Hager asserted in the 1990s that the United States was exploiting ECHELON traffic for industrial espionage , rather than military and diplomatic purposes . Examples alleged by the journalists include the gear - less wind turbine technology designed by the German firm Enercon and the speech technology developed by the Belgian firm Lernout & Hauspie . In 2001 , the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System recommended to the European Parliament that citizens of member states routinely use cryptography in their communications to protect their privacy , because economic espionage with ECHELON has been conducted by the US intelligence agencies . Bamford provides an alternative view , highlighting that legislation prohibits the use of intercepted communications for commercial purposes , although he does not elaborate on how intercepted communications are used as part of an all - source intelligence process . In its report , the committee of the European Parliament stated categorically that the Echelon network was being used to intercept not only military communications , but also private and business ones . In its epigraph to the report , the parliamentary committee quoted Juvenal , “ " Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes . " ” ( “ But who will watch the watchers ” ) . Bamford , in the " Guardian " in May , 2001 , warned that if Echelon were to continue unchecked , it could become a “ cyber secret police , without courts , juries , or the right to a defence . ” Examples of political espionage . Notable examples of members of the " Five Eyes " engaging in political espionage : Examples of industrial espionage . Notable examples of members of the " Five Eyes " engaging in industrial espionage : On March 17 , 2000 , the former CIA director James Woolsey , Jr . defended his agency ' s surveillance activities regarding " ECHELON and U . S . spying on European industries " . Writing in an op - ed for " The Wall Street Journal " , Woolsey argued that " we ( the CIA ) have spied on you ( the Europeans ) because you bribe " . Hardware . According to its website , the U . S . National Security Agency ( NSA ) is " a high technology organization . . . on the frontiers of communications and data processing " . In 1999 the Australian Senate Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was told by Professor Desmond Ball that the Pine Gap facility was used as a ground station for a satellite - based interception network . The satellites were said to be large radio dishes between 20 and 100 meters in diameter in geostationary orbit s . The original purpose of the network was to monitor the telemetry from 1970s , air defence radar , communications satellites and ground based microwave communications . Name . The European Parliament ' s Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System stated : " It seems likely , in view of the evidence and the consistent pattern of statements from a very wide range of individuals and organisations , including American sources , that its name is in fact ECHELON , although this is a relatively minor detail . " The U . S . intelligence community uses many code names ( " see " , for example , CIA cryptonym ) . Former NSA employee Margaret Newsham claims that she worked on the configuration and installation of software that makes up the ECHELON system while employed at Lockheed Martin , for whom she worked from 1974 to 1984 in Sunnyvale , California , US , and in Menwith Hill , England , UK . At that time , according to Newsham , the code name ECHELON was NSA ' s term for the computer network itself . Lockheed called it " P415 " . The software programs were called " SILKWORTH " and " SIRE " . A satellite named " VORTEX " intercepted communications . An image available on the internet of a fragment apparently torn from a job description shows Echelon listed along with several other code names . Ground stations . The 2001 European Parliamentary ( EP ) report lists several ground stations as possibly belonging to , or participating in , the ECHELON network . These include : Likely satellite intercept stations . The following stations are listed in the EP report ( p . 54 ff ) as likely to have , or to have had , a role in intercepting transmissions from telecommunications satellites : Other potentially related stations . The following stations are listed in the EP report ( p . 57 ff ) as ones whose roles " cannot be clearly established " : In popular culture . The television series " Alias " made recurring references to ECHELON throughout its run . " Echelon Conspiracy " , inspired by the surveillance system ECHELON , is a 2009 action thriller film directed by Greg Marcks . It tells the story of Max Peterson ( Shane West ) , an American computer specialist who attempts to uncover a secret plot to turn the world into a global police state . After being chased down by NSA agent Raymond Burke ( Martin Sheen ) , Peterson decides to flee to Moscow . The video game series Splinter Cell also draws inspiration from this . The series features the protagonist , Sam Fisher , a trained operative belonging to a fictional branch of the National Security Agency called 3rd Echelon ( later , in Splinter Cell Blacklist , the unit is renamed to Fourth Echelon ) .