Report: NSA spied on Merkel’s predecessor too

[jakeXT]

3. ECHELON

European Parliament investigation (2000-01)

In July 2000, the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System was Eestablished by the European parliament to investiage the surveillance network. It was chaired by the Portuguese politician Carlos Coelho, who was in charge of supervising investigations throughout 2000 and 2001.

In May 2001, as the committee finalized its report on the ECHELON system, a delegation travelled to Washington, D.C. to attend meetings with U.S. officials from the following agencies and departments:

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)[22]
U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)[22]
U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)[22]

All meetings were cancelled by the U.S. government and the committee was forced to end its trip prematurely.[22] According to a BBC correspondent in May 2001, "The US Government still refuses to admit that Echelon even exists"[6]

In July 2001, the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System released its final report, which confirmed the existence of ECHELON.[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#European_Parliament_investigation_.282000-01.29