4 ms·
> as it was by a state without a mature domestic intelligence capability going to market to buy tools of one, to spy on actual spies in its borders How do you
by adventured 5y ago
> as it was by a state without a mature domestic intelligence capability going to market to buy tools of one, to spy on actual spies in its borders
How do you intend to support your claim that the 11 US diplomats and employees from the US embassy are spies (and thus are supposedly legitimate targets in your view)?
Nowhere does it say US spies were the targets. And no other story on this subject has presented evidence of that either.
- tptacek 5y agoI think the general idea is that the USG doubtlessly conducts espionage on Uganda, thus making all formal employees of the USG fair game for espionage. Which makes a good deal of sense. The reason NSO spyware on State Department phones is upsetting isn't that it targets the State Department employees, but that it targets the USG.
- sophacles 5y agoUS intelligence organizations openly state that a common way for them to operate in a country is to give their agents cover "jobs" at the state department. When state department employees or "employees" work at an embassy they are diplomats. Apparently this is common in the intelligence world. Whether these particular people were spies, it seems like proper counter-intelligence to track all diplomats pretty closely because at least some of them are going to be intelligence operatives.
- lostcolony 5y agoTracking movement vs intercepting communication is a very different thing. In general, any attempt to spy on an ally is going to get a lot of egg on your face if it comes out, and if it's using tools your ally helped finance and/etc, you can bet it's going to get complicated. In this instance, Israel needs the US, Pegasus was Israel's technical gorilla in the spy world, and it got used on the US by someone they sold it to. This level of fallout given that is not unexpected; Israel cares more about maintaining ties with the US than they do about a given tool, company, or to enable Ugandan spying operations.
- jopsen 5y ago> it seems like proper counter-intelligence to track all diplomats pretty closely because at least some of them are going to be intelligence operatives. Curious, do you happen to know what such spies do? I'm wondering if it's just a reporting the news, talking to people and collecting information that can be legally obtained.
- nyolfen 5y agothey are often actual cia agents, which means collecting humint and building sources and networks. eg https://cryptocomb.org https://cryptocomb.org
- ashtonkem 5y agoI wouldn’t hazard a guess about the exact number, but spies being given diplomatic cover (and diplomats spying) has been the norm for centuries. A huge chunk of Cold War spy craft was about diplomatic personnel trying to evade their followers in order to meet with their contacts without exposing them.
- kgonza 5y agoA huge chunk of the American intelligence leaked by WikiLeaks was collected by "diplomats".
- rswail 5y agoThe job of diplomats is to collect intelligence and represent their government. Whether they collect it overtly or covertly is the issue here. The USG had an "agreement" with Israel that NSO products wouldn't be used against the USG. Uganda did. So the USG is making it clear to Israel that they have to rein in NSO and other "private enterprise" spy product providers.
- kgonza 5y agoSo you've never read the WikiLeaks?
- dragonelite 5y agoThere's this joke people say the only reason the US doesn't have regime change factions is because it doesn't have a US embassy.