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Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

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Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#81
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean 'Dannebrog' (Dannebrogordenen)? Dannebro reads like a title a fraternity would give you

The 'g' is not sounded out loud anyway in Dannebrog, so your interpretation still lives, I can happily report.

Exactly. If you prononuce it "Dannebrok" we will complain.

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “The FE also cooperated with the NSA on spying operations against the US government itself.” It’s long be standard practice for intelligence agencies in 5/9 Eyes to ask each other to spy on the others citizens when it would be illegal to do so themselves. The NSA for example would find it difficult to spy on Senators, this is there way around it. And there is no denying there has be a reasonable cause to in the las…

Collection and analysis of intelligence on a US person by a US intelligence agency is subjected to the same laws no matter where it came from. There is no way around it. If GCHQ collected and NSA analyzed and used that intelligence in any way then the law regarding US persons applies. I'm not aware of anywhere in the law that makes exceptions for these cases.

There is a way around it for people subject to a background investigation. The 4A gets suspended for them by EO12333. Technically not "the law" but you don't see Congress doing anything about executive overreach.

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People think it's west Vs China or USA vs others. It's not. It's these "services" Vs the people they're meant to be serving.

It is also the west vs China. Although not Westerners against Chinese (my kids are welcome to play with the Chinese kids next door and the Chinese next door are just as welcome as any other neighbor to a garden party). But it should be the world against crimes against humanity. And then we Westerners will also have to clean up our own systems; that is just as important, but a smaller task.

It’s not China who killed million random civilians in the Middle East. Was there a more severe crime against humanity in the past two decades?

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean 'Dannebrog' (Dannebrogordenen)? Dannebro reads like a title a fraternity would give you

Yeah - missing the g - it is serious business in dk though: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Dannebrog

>"Anton Michelsen was made a part of Royal Copenhagen A/S who is now the supplier."

If anyone's seen Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz (1969), that's where they filmed the opening scene where the KGB pursues the Soviet defector through central Copenhagen. The porcelain factory in the film is (was?) the real-life company's ceramics factory.

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So before the tiny Danish nation of just few million people was allied with the US, you were occupied by the Germans, your Jews exported and murdered, many citizens dead. And the Americans (and English, Canadians etc.) liberated you. And then for decades, you were up against the Soviet Empire where the Americans provide a pillar of security. And somehow this relationship with the Americans is bad, exactly how? You ha…

Arguing that "it's okay to do it because the others do it as well" is kindergarten-level argumentation. A key factor in a friendly relationship is to be able to tell your friend "no" without him/her getting angry. If one of the people in a relationship is forced to be subservient at all times we normally call it an abusive relationship. And I think you kinda missed the point: Danish politicians have done everything i…

"Arguing that "it's okay to do it because the others do it as well" is kindergarten-level argumentation."

?

Saying "Americans are evil because I heard something on the news and am going to assume a bunch of facts" is 'Kindergarten Arguing'.

...

"A key factor in a friendly relationship is to be able to tell your friend "no" without him/her getting angry. If one of the people in a relationship is forced to be subservient at all times we normally call it an abusive relationship."

This is a glib conflation of pop culture relationship psychology, with realpolitik nature of geopolitical relations.

...

"And I think you kinda missed the point: Danish politicians have done everything in their power to please the US"

I think you 'missed the point' by making broad, fabricated assumptions about a) what exactly Danish politicians are doing, b) the benefits received on either side and c) the materiality of the requests made by the US.

You don't know what was asked for and received from either side, nor the benefits to either party.

...

'Adult Argumentation' is the recognition of the material facts of the situation, of which there are many including the fact that Denmark is small and relatively weak, does not have the scale to work on a lot of defence and intelligence initiatives, it has to partner with 'good neighbours' on a variety of issues, and that Denmark deploys intelligence capabilities, including spying, like every other state.

If Denmark is a 'lapdog' of any state, it's by far and away the lapdog of Germany which de-facto dictates monetary policy (Kroner is issued by DK but is pegged i.e. controlled by ECB), EU level migration, unilaterally makes dumb energy deals with the Russians giving them tremendous leverage and putting everyone at risk, to the point where once again, ironically, the Americans, literally as we speak are having to step in to protect all of you, almost 80 years after WW2 ended. And so many other things.

Thankfully, Danish and other European politicians have developed good relations with the US such that US support on issues such as Ukraine and Russian expansion are going to be well mitigated.

To put that in context, the US is providing a huge layer of security for Denmark, in exchange for what, exactly? For helping the US track down a corrupt politician using surveillance? Seems like a pretty good deal. Who is who's lapdog now?

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#87
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone is doubting how much influence US intelligence has over Danish intelligence: >Danish intelligence also helped the US agency to spy on the Danish foreign and finance ministries as well as a Danish weapons manufacturer. The FE also cooperated with the NSA on spying operations against the US government itself. https://www.dw.com/en/danish-secret-service-helped-us-spy-on... The NSA made the Danish FE spy on bot…

> “The FE also cooperated with the NSA on spying operations against the US government itself.” It’s long be standard practice for intelligence agencies in 5/9 Eyes to ask each other to spy on the others citizens when it would be illegal to do so themselves. The NSA for example would find it difficult to spy on Senators, this is there way around it. And there is no denying there has be a reasonable cause to in the las…

> And there is no denying there has be a reasonable cause to in the last four years.

Yes there is. The US has domestic intelligence agencies, why should the NSA be engaging in domestic intelligence when it's explicitly not their mandate?

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguing that "it's okay to do it because the others do it as well" is kindergarten-level argumentation. A key factor in a friendly relationship is to be able to tell your friend "no" without him/her getting angry. If one of the people in a relationship is forced to be subservient at all times we normally call it an abusive relationship. And I think you kinda missed the point: Danish politicians have done everything i…

"Arguing that "it's okay to do it because the others do it as well" is kindergarten-level argumentation." ? Saying "Americans are evil because I heard something on the news and am going to assume a bunch of facts" is 'Kindergarten Arguing'. ... "A key factor in a friendly relationship is to be able to tell your friend "no" without him/her getting angry. If one of the people in a relationship is forced to be subservie…

This is quite silly. On oh so many levels. Your rant about Denmark being the lapdog of EU (and by extension Germany) is hilarious. You might not know it, but there has actually been a number of referendums in Denmark on our association with EU (1972, 1986, 1992, 1993, 2014, 2015).

I don't recall any referendums on the NSA cooperation.

...

On one point you're very right, though: I don't know the details of the deal made between the Danish defence intelligence agency and NSA. I sure would love to (the same goes for the Danish public), so please let me in on the details!

...

You seem unwilling to accept, that the actions performed by politicians is not always in the interest of the people they're supposed to serve. This is quite weird. An US analogy would be, that it is obvious that Pelosi or Trump are more concerned about their private fortunes than the interest of the American public.

And as I said: If the Danish politicians thought this cooperation to be in the best interest of the Danes, they could announce it publicly. "We let NSA tap our data, because they in return sometimes provides tips to us on homegrown terrorists and threats to Danish interests in the Middle-East". It is strange that it is not even possible for them to acknowledge the existence of an agreement. Why all this cloak and dagger when it is so obviously a great benefit for the country as you make it out to be?

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#89
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also the west vs China. Although not Westerners against Chinese (my kids are welcome to play with the Chinese kids next door and the Chinese next door are just as welcome as any other neighbor to a garden party). But it should be the world against crimes against humanity. And then we Westerners will also have to clean up our own systems; that is just as important, but a smaller task.

It’s not China who killed million random civilians in the Middle East. Was there a more severe crime against humanity in the past two decades?

apparently some crimes against humanity are worse than the others

Re: Danish intelligence chief held over suspected info leaks, local media report

#90

This is an absolutely bonkers story by Danish standard. The guy is amongst the highest ranking civil servants, holds the order of Dannebro. On top of this a number of Danish journalists have been "taken in for a chat" by the intelligence services. The charges are still secret, but appears to be related to this story: Danish secret service helped US spy on Germany's Angela Merkel: report https://www.dw.com/en/danish-s…

When the head of the agency can't stop the agency from doing something he doesn't like...

Heads have only nominal control over any decently sized organisation. There are myriad ways in which people below can circumvent any restrictions placed.

A example from this issue would be how NSA used Danish intelligence to bypass restrictions placed by Congress.

The military tries hard to achieve this kind of alignment but even there it can be hard, a good historical example is Japanese Navy and army during second world war .

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