The US Secret Service NSA has abused a cooperation agreement with Denmark to spy on allies in Europe for years. This is reported by Danish public service broadcaster DR on the basis of reports from a whistle-blower.
Several sources have confirmed the news against the network. The NSA and the Danish military service FE agreed in 2008 that Denmark could tap internet cables in Denmark with the help of the Americans. In return, the NSA got access to internet cables to Eastern Europe. Together they processed data in a dedicated data centre close to Copenhagen airport.
There are more deals like this. The Americans then ask for cooperation in exchange for financial and technical assistance. For example, a state-of-the-art data centre was built on the Danish island of Amager.
What the Danes did not know, however, is that the US also used internet access to spy on Denmark itself and neighbouring countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.
This was revealed by a former member of the Danish FE service who expressed his concerns about Danish-American cooperation in internal reports. As measures were not taken, he leaked the reports to a supervisory body. He then did research, which led to several FE officials being suspended last summer.