US spied on Japan government, companies: WikiLeaks

[Edison Chen]

Tokyo (AFP) - The US spy agency targeted Japanese politicians, its top central banker and major firms for years, WikiLeaks said on Friday, in the latest revelations about Washington's snooping on allies.

The intercepts exposing US National Security Agency activities follow other documents released by the whistleblower group that revealed spying on allies including Germany and France, straining relations.

Japan is one of Washington's key allies in the Asia-Pacific region and they regularly consult on defence, economic and trade issues.

The leaks comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moves to expand the role of Japan's military, a move applauded by Washington but deeply unpopular at home.

The claims of spying on trade officials could prove particularly sensitive after high-profile talks kicked off this week in Hawaii aimed at hammering out a vast free-trade bloc encompassing 40 percent of the world's economy.

The United States, Japan, and 10 other Pacific Rim countries are looking to finalise the most ambitious trade deal in decades.

But Washington and Tokyo -- the biggest economies in the negotiations -- have sparred over auto sector access and Tokyo's concerns about including agricultural products in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"The reports demonstrate the depth of US surveillance of the Japanese government, indicating that intelligence was gathered and processed from numerous Japanese government ministries and offices," WikiLeaks said.

There was "intimate knowledge of internal Japanese deliberations" on trade issues, nuclear policy, and Tokyo's diplomatic relations with Washington, it said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not appear to be a direct target of wiretapping but senior politicians were, including Trade Minister Yoichi Miyazawa, while Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda was also in the sights of US intelligence, WikiLeaks said.

Tokyo did not immediately react to the leaked documents.

- Delicate situation -

The spying goes back at least as far as Abe's brief first term, which began in 2006, WikiLeaks said. Abe swept to power again in late 2012.

"If this is true, Japan is going to be asking for an explanation from the US side, but it's unlikely to have a major impact on the core of Japan-US relations," said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a professor of international politics at the University of Niigata Prefecture.

The leaks may provoke a strong reaction from a public wary of Abe's bid to expand the military's role and push through a trade deal strongly opposed by Japan's politically powerful farm lobby.

"I think some interest groups and opposition parties will use this news to stick a spoke in the government's wheel," said Celine Pajon, a Japan specialist at the French Institute of International Relations.

Japanese lawmakers are debating the controversial bills that would expand the role of the military and could possibly see troops fighting abroad in defence of allies -- chiefly the United States -- for the first time since the end of World War II.

Abe, stressing the Japan-US alliance as the cornerstone of its diplomacy, wants to enact the bills soon, but opponents say they will drag officially pacifist Japan into foreign wars.

WikiLeaks said there were also intercepts about "sensitive climate change strategy" and the "content of a confidential prime ministerial briefing that took place at Shinzo Abe's official residence".

One intercepted communication suggested Japanese agriculture ministry officials were alarmed at a possible backlash from Washington over a delay in importing US cherries.

Trading giant Mitsubishi's natural gas division and Mitsui's petroleum unit were targeted, while four reports were classified as "Top Secret".

One report was marked to indicate it could be released to allies Britain, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

"In these documents we see the Japanese government worrying in private about how much or how little to tell the United States, in order to prevent undermining of its climate change proposal or its diplomatic relationship," WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange said in a statement.

"And yet we now know that the United States heard everything and read everything, and was passing around the deliberations of Japanese leadership to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK."

US spied on Japan government, companies: WikiLeaks - Yahoo News
Wikileaks releases documents reportedly showing US spied on Japan for years - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Wikileaks: US 'spied on Japan government and companies' - BBC News

 

[TaiShang]

How unbecoming of the US! But is actually spying on Japan considered an act of spying?

 

[frequency]

 

[TaiShang]

"WikiLeaks also posted what it says is an NSA list of 35 Japanese targets for telephone intercepts including the Japanese Cabinet office, Bank of Japan officials, Finance and Trade Ministry numbers, the natural gas division at Mitsubishi and the petroleum division at Mitsui."

But why mostly spy on industrial and technological assets/companies/people?

Any practical purpose? Theft of advanced tech?

 

[Aepsilons]

"WikiLeaks also posted what it says is an NSA list of 35 Japanese targets for telephone intercepts including the Japanese Cabinet office, Bank of Japan officials, Finance and Trade Ministry numbers, the natural gas division at Mitsubishi and the petroleum division at Mitsui."

But why mostly spy on industrial and technological assets/companies/people?

Any practical purpose? Theft of advanced tech?

I suppose the Americans have a yearning for situational awareness. Rest assured that Japan also has "eyes" in the United States.

The difference here is that we don't have a 'Snowden' that threw our intelligence apparatus under the the proverbial 'bus'.

 

[jhungary]

just how many of this topic people need to open....

I have saw at least 3 other thread going on and comment on 2 of them. Before you open a thread, you should check if someone had opened a similar thread already, either by typing the keyword on the search box or looking at suggested thread when you put your title in your new thread

 

[Aepsilons]

just how many of this topic people need to open....

I have saw at least 3 other thread going on and comment on 2 of them. Before you open a thread, you should check if someone had opened a similar thread already, either by typing the keyword on the search box or looking at suggested thread when you put your title in your new thread

There's even a Japanball comic on this , lol.

Darn it Americans! Why do you influence our Ninjas this way?!

@Technogaianist

 

[TaiShang]

I suppose the Americans have a yearning for situational awareness. Rest assured that Japan also has "eyes" in the United States.

The difference here is that we don't have a 'Snowden' that threw our intelligence apparatus under the the proverbial 'bus'.

Do you think your eyes are as sharp as that of the US?

I suspect, frankly, because there is way too much trust+dependence on the US on part of Japan while it might not be the case the other way round.

Perhaps the US regime does not forget the probability that Japan might have actually not forgotten the two atomic bombs the US dropped upon them at the blink of an eye.

Is this what you refer to as "situational awareness?"

On another note, when Mr. Putin suspects any US entity/person spying, he simply kicks them out. Nice and relatively clean.

Why can't Japan do that now that Japan now has a thriving gold mine called Snowden?

Or your officials take it lightly?

OK, one more question, does Japan ever regulate US NGOs that are an extension of the US regime?

just how many of this topic people need to open....

I have saw at least 3 other thread going on and comment on 2 of them. Before you open a thread, you should check if someone had opened a similar thread already, either by typing the keyword on the search box or looking at suggested thread when you put your title in your new thread

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

I suppose the Americans have a yearning for situational awareness. Rest assured that Japan also has "eyes" in the United States.

The difference here is that we don't have a 'Snowden' that threw our intelligence apparatus under the the proverbial 'bus'.

However, Japan has one the worst counter-intelligence apparatus and absence of an information security culture

Cable reference id: #07TOKYO2895

The Challenge ------------- ¶3.

(S) The fact that effective information sharing is so crucial to our own interests makes the recent disclosure of classified data so serious. A certain amount of unauthorized disclosures is inevitable in any country -- some people will leak for monetary, ideological, or simply "vanity" reasons. Recent incidents in Japan, however, suggest that the problem is more systemic, both in terms of Japan's structures for protecting information, and in terms of Japan's lack of appreciation for the counterintelligence problem it faces. Over the past year, we have seen damaging disclosures of intelligence data related to the DPRK's July 2006 missile launches, discussions in the press on sensitive bilateral planning activities, and the loss of operational data from laptop computers via commercial internet file sharing services.

A case of lack of political will, wonder if its related to the entire military culture.

 

[Aepsilons]

I suppose there is truth in this and thus should be context for Japan to improve its intelligence and research division wing.

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

Any practical purpose? Theft of advanced tech?

Japanese companies usually sit on huge piles of cash. Knowing the thinking and behavior pattern of the wallstreet sharks，this is just too big a target for them to pass. For decades they were trying to persuade the japanese to adopt business models，for their cash pile to become more open to financial robbery, I won't be surprised they want to keep an eye on their prey.

And do you know what the best part is？when few years down the line when they finally pull off something like “Japanese Debt Crisis” and move in for the kill，the fcuking TPP will be there in place to prevent China from joining the feast！

 

[Aepsilons]

A case of lack of political will, wonder if its related to the entire military culture.

Its not a 'vanity' issue or lack of political will, so to say, it was due to the limitations that Article 9 had imposed on Japan. Japan had one of the most sophisticated intelligence wings in the 20th century, after the end of the war, The Americans specifically had the Imperial Army, Imperial Navy and the Imperial Intelligence Agency specially the Rikugun Nakano Gakko.

We just recently revoked certain restrictive clauses in The Japanese Constitution this past year. So, naturally, the Intelligence Wing will be augmented.

 

[TaiShang]

Japanese companies usually sit on huge piles of cash. Knowing the thinking and behavior pattern of the wallstreet sharks，this is just too big a target for them to pass. For decades they were trying to persuade the japanese to adopt business models，for their cash pile to become more open to financial robbery, I won't be surprised they want to keep an eye on their prey.

And do you know what the best part is？when few years down the line when they finally pull off something like “Japanese Debt Crisis” and move in for the kill，the fcuking TPP will be there in place to prevent China from joining the feast！

Too bad! The US must allow China to at least join as an observer or something.

Who knows, maybe in the future, if some stars align up in the sky, the US might even share some valuable intel they got by spying on Japan. It is not that the US punished Japan rather mercilessly for the first time.

 

[Place Of Space]

Japanese is reacting generously on this issue. Japnese minister stated: what if real, I regret it. America is Japan's ally, America has the rights of spying on Japan....hooohoo, Japanese justify for the American challenge.

 

[JaiMin]

The government is spying on you - What's the big deal?

Scott Lazarowitz
LewRockwell.com
Sat, 20 Dec 2014 17:00 UTC


Recent polls show that, despite the Senate's torture report, most Americans still support the Central Intelligence Agency's use of torture on suspects. Obviously the mainstream media misinform the public, neglecting to tell them that such torture techniques do not even produce reliable information and are mainly used to extract false confessions from innocent detainees.

And on the National Security Agency's spying on innocent Americans, people love it, and then they hate it, and now they're back to loving it again. Alas, Most people are ignorant of the actual criminality being committed by the federal goons.

But one American who shows enthusiastic support for NSA intrusions, a Federal Appeals Court judge, says that privacy is "overvalued," and that "much of what passes for the name of privacy is really just trying to conceal the disreputable parts of your conduct." If some unauthorized individual intruded into his cell phone, one would find a picture of the judge's cat and some emails.

"What's the big deal?" Judge Richard Posner asked, contemptuously wisecracking, "Other people must have really exciting stuff. Do they narrate their adulteries, or something like that?"

So, yeah, he's all for NSA spying on innocent people without any reason to suspect them of anything.

He is one of those, "well, if you have nothing to hide. . ." kinds of judges, so people should just let government goons have complete access into all their personal information. After all, it's in the name of "security" and to protect us from "terrorism."

Never mind the fact that the government and its enforcers having the power to search people's cell phones, get information on their calls and emails or search their cars and homes is a power which makes the people less secure. And that is the kind of power which enables government tyrants to terrorize the people, as Michael Rozeff correctly noted.

But the obedient defenders of the State and its sick criminality seem to assume that the NSA and other State enterprises such as CIA,TSA, etc., really are protecting people from terrorism.

Like DC District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer, who rules based on not wanting to "second-guess" the CIA and its authoritarian judgments, Judge Posner believes that we needn't second-guess the NSA, as its agents' authority and judgment ought not be questioned.

So, what kinds of security-protecting deeds have the good folks at the NSA actually been doing that we shouldn't be concerned about? Well,according to Glenn Greenwald, we know that the GCHQ (Britain's NSA equivalent) presented the NSA with classified documents on GCHQ's own sleazy tactics of posting false material on the Internet to destroy reputations and turn people against one another. And GCHQ's main targets are not even alleged "terrorists" but private companies just doing business, and political activists.

That sure sounds like they are protecting us from terrorism, if you ask me.

And, according to James Ball of the U.K. Guardian, we know that NSA and GCHQ have been infiltrating online gaming networks such as Xbox Live and World of Warcraft to collect gamers' buddylists, profile photos, geolocation information and chats. But Ball notes that there is no evidence that such gaming network infiltration has thwarted any terrorism plots or even that members of any terror groups actually use these kinds of gaming networks.

A main purpose of such warrantless Internet intrusions is to put together biometric information of gamers and others. Governments just love to have as much information on each individual as possible such as biometric information that includes facial recognition photos, location, personal associations, etc., despite the overwhelming number of false positive matches and incorrect facial recognition results those databases give officials. Such databases of personally identifying information are just as unreliable as fingerprint databases and DNA testing as well.

But Judge Posner says, "What's the big deal?"

And according to Glenn Greenwald, the NSA uses a tool called XKeyscore to collect "nearly everything a user does on the Internet." With XKeyscore all the NSA agent needs is a user's email address or IP address, and is only required to fill out a form giving some general rationalization for such criminal intrusions that don't even require a warrant. Greenwald notes that NSA agents "can also search by name, telephone number, IP address, keywords, the language in which the internet activity was conducted or the type of browser used."

Obviously, Judge Posner is very comfortable with all this. He isn't exactly doing a Danny Thomas spit-take when hearing about all this stuff. What could possibly go wrong? And there are many other Americans who don't mind their personal lives being an open book for the government, despite so much potential for abuse, such as blackmail.

But the truth is, only the most naive and gullible could endorse such powers of intrusion wielded by the State. (Or someone who has been blackmailed, of course.)

As the ACLU has pointed out, J. Edgar Hoover and his FBI and the Chicago Police Department used private, personal information to intentionally blackmail politicians and members of religious and political organizations. I'm sure other law enforcement agencies and bureaus have been doing exactly that since the days of J. Edgar Hoover and 1970s Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.

From an interview with Peter B. Collins, Washington's Blog quotes NSA whistleblower Russell Tice, stating that the NSA has been spying on and targeting "high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress ... lawyers and law firms. All kinds of - heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House ..."

And Washington's Blog also quotes other government whistleblowers such as William Binney, Sibel Edmonds and Thomas Drake as to the various blackmail schemes of these criminal government spy agencies.

The NSA, FBI, CIA - the agents of all these bureaucracies take oaths and swear to obey the U.S. Constitution, which includes the Bill of Rights, yet they seem to violate such oaths every chance they can. (Oh, wait - CIA Director John Brennan took his oath of office using an early draft Constitution, without the Bill of Rights included. Never mind, as Emily Litella would say.)

But there are some CIA or NSA employees who really do believe in upholding their Constitutional oaths. Former CIA officer and torturewhistleblower John Kiriakou is the only CIA officer in prison - not because of torturing people, but because of revealing information about the CIA's torture.

But Kiriakou in an interview asserted that the CIA clearly didn't care about his possibly revealing classified information, as they encouraged him to write op-eds and do interviews as a way to use such communications against him even though information he gave was cleared through the agency.

Kriakou concluded throughout his ordeal that "everyone is corrupt" in that agency. Or most everyone, that is. And the same thing is probably the case in all these other criminal agencies, NSA and so on.

I just can't imagine anyone with a moral conscience actually inflicting the kinds of sick, deranged and sadistic torment on others as CIA agents have committed.

And I can't imagine anyone, such as NSA personnel, with any moral conscience actually listening in on people, recording or videotaping them, breaking into their emails of phone calls or their cars or bedrooms without any suspicion, and "digging up some dirt" to use against innocent people including judges and military generals.

But "if you have nothing to hide ..." as some judges have asserted, you should be okay with goons watching you and recording your actions. Alas,those who guard themselves against criminal intrusions and attempt to protect their private lives are labeled as "suspicious" in the eyes of the State and its statist defenders, toadies and dupes.

Sadly, "those who resist being inventoried present a problem for the state," as Wendy McElroy observed.

Yes, honest and moral people are a problem for the State.

As McElroy points out, there should be one standard of morality. If it's wrong for your neighbors to dig into your private life, it's wrong for government agents.

To cure the problem, NSA whistleblower William Binney and several other well-intentioned government whistleblowers have presented 21 recommendations toward reforming the NSA. But the truth is, it is impossible to reform an agency that is part of a monopolistic governmental "security" apparatus, unless it is de-monopolized and we remove restrictions on free competition.

In any case, Future of Freedom Foundation President Jacob Hornberger has the best solution I've ever heard: Abolish the NSA.

And the CIA has outlived whatever usefulness it may have had after World War II, so we should get rid of that, too.

In fact, as Hornberger has suggested, it really is the entire evil National Security State that has long ago outlived whatever usefulness it may have had after World War II. So the real solution to restoring freedom and security is to thoroughly dismantle the entire National Security State apparatus, root and branch.

Source: The government is spying on you - What's the big deal? -- Puppet Masters -- Sott.net
Well America got this article for long time , everybody spy on other people, if it is not then better over 100 nations better disband their agencies