Posted on 02/27/2004 10:32:21 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
"We screwed up, this is a big problem for U.N. Security." So confided a senior U.N. Security official to NewsMax's Stewart Stogel when asked to react to reports that British Intelligence had been monitoring supposedly private conversations within the personal office of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The allegation about the UK spying came from Claire Short, a former cabinet member of Prime Minister Tony Blair. In order to substantiate her allegations, Short claimed she could quote from private conversations between Annan and other officials which did not involve any UK officials. It is unclear how long the eavesdropping had been going on, but most recently centered on Annan's moves leading up to the coalition invasion of Iraq in March 2003, so claimed the former Blair cabinet member. At the U.N. on Thursday, the UK spying got a mixed reaction: Russian ambassador Sergey Lavrov "was concerned" about the possible "illegal" activities by the British government. Lavrov failed to mention that in the 1970's, Arkady Schevchenko, a U.N. undersecretary general and one of the highest ranking Soviets in the U.N. system, bragged in his memoirs that he personally spied on U.N. chief Kurt Waldheim. Schevchenko boasted that documents crossing his desk first went to the Soviet U.N. ambassador before being sent on to Waldhiem. Annan himself did not offer direct comment, but through his spokesman Fred Eckhard said: "Such activities would undermine the integrity and confidential nature of diplomatic exchanges ... "Those who speak to the Secretary-General are entitled to assume that their exchanges are confidential. The Secretary-General wants this practice stopped, if it indeed exists." What Eckhard omitted is that Annan has personally breached confidential exchanges with world leaders on numerous occasions when found to be politically expedient. In 2001, Annan sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon complaining about possible atrocities by his military in the West Bank town of Jenin. When Sharon did not offer a "timely" reply to the letter, the U.N. chief ordered the complaint "leaked" to the press. Annan's move brought a rare public and personal rebuke for his "breach" of diplomatic protocol by Israel's U.N. mission. Annan made matters with the Israelis worse when it became known that he had secretly taped phone conversations on the Jenin problem with foreign minister Shimon Peres. When personally challenged to release the tapes, Annan told this reporter: "To you, the press, never." While Annan claimed he was protecting the confidentiality of the conversation, Israel's U.N. mission stated that "Minister Peres had no problems (with tapes or transcripts) of such conversations being made public." The U.N. still refused. Annan then quickly closed his investigation into the alleged atrocities by the Israeli military in the West Bank town. Ultimately, the U.N. was not "substantiate" the claims by the made by the Palestinian Authority. At U.N. headquarters on Thursday, the spy bug issue became topic one: NewsMax has learned that U.N. security routinely sweeps Annan's office complex on the 38th floor of the high-rise Secretariat building for "listening" devices. "We do it once a month, randomly," explained one U.N. official, who also noted that at no time over the last year has any listening device been discovered. He added that U.N. Security Chief Michael McCann went on a personal damage limitation campaign complaining about budget cuts, inferior equipment and ill trained personnel, for not detecting any intelligence breach in Annan's office. "He will blame us, he will blame the equipment, it will be our fault," lamented the security officer. NewsMax has also learned that Annan was "livid" when he read the news reports on the spying. Informed sources say that the U.N. is considering two ways to respond to the alleged spying: One is to hire a private commercial security firm to review and perhaps run security matters directly pertaining to Annan. That has a problem because the technology publicly and commercially available is often several generations behind that available to government agencies. A second, is to request the assistance of the NYPD. NYC is ultimately responsible for the safety and security of U.N. headquarters and often assists on "other matters" when requested. Should the U.N. decide on the second option it could present an interesting scenario: The NYPD vs. the CIA and British intelligence.
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