Report: Swiss Government Long in Dark Over CIA Front Company (axios.com) 25
The Swiss intelligence service has known since at least 1993 that Switzerland-based encryption device maker Crypto AG was actually a front for the CIA and its German counterpart, according to a new report released by the Swiss Parliament, but Swiss leaders were in the dark until last year. From a report: Switzerland's intra-governmental information gap is unlikely to be welcome news in Europe, which already looks warily upon the U.S.' expansive surveillance practices. Still, Crypto AG provided information of incalculable value to U.S. policymakers over many decades. Crypto AG was controlled from 1970 on by the CIA and the West German BND intelligence agency. It sold encryption devices -- often employed in diplomatic communications -- that were used by over 120 countries through the 2000s.
Twenty seven years? (Score:3)
Execute your intelligence officers for treason.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh noes! Anonymous Coward has insulted me!
Not how admins abuse their inifinite modpoints (Score:2)
No need for modpoints, when you can just alter the database.
Still a fact, BizX. You're a wannabe enterprise currency crook, and you know it.
Re: (Score:1)
Oh kid... There's such a thing in the USA for every major nation in the world.
And there's one of the USA in every major nation of the world. (Actually, in Germany, we still have US bases. Which is as strange as... well, imagine Germany just casually having bases in the USA. Or maybe the UK or France, for a different kind of analogy.)
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I'm aware. I grew up on those bases, among others.
Lovely country you have, by the way.
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well, imagine Germany just casually having bases in the USA. Or maybe the UK or France, for a different kind of analogy.
For real? You think those bases were setup last week, or do you suppose they are an after effect of the Germans losing their totalitarian war of aggression against most of Europe and being occupied by the United States, Britain and France? And then the US sticking around when the Soviets divided Germany, walled in the East Germans and stationed troops for invasion of Western Europe?
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So who should have military bases in the United States to deter them from their totalitarian wars in the Middle East? Just get out of Germany, Japan, and disband the American Empire entirely.
Plausible deniability (Score:5, Interesting)
Leaders who matter knew. They just were also provided with plausible enough deniability for propaganda machine to churn through should truth breach the normal propaganda gates and come to light.
And Swiss are kings of plausible deniability. They built an entire world renowned banking sector on it.
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If they want plausible deniability after almost 3 decades of knowledge, heads need to literally roll.
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They have over a century of plausible deniability when it comes to their banking sector storing money from world's despots. It's deeply ingrained in Swiss culture to look elsewhere and pretend everything is fine.
In light of this, why would any heads suddenly need to "start rolling" over something this minor?
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So that their remaining industries don't get a reputation for failing to act suitably "surprised" and "outraged". The value of the Swiss economy is in their reputation.
This directly screws with that.
Re:Plausible deniability (Score:4, Insightful)
But they have acted suitably surprised and outraged. Just look at this story and how government was supposedly kept in the dark by some unnamed people down the ladder. Politicians who were kept in the dark are suitably surprised and outraged.
Which has nothing to do with heads rolling. This is Switzerland, not US.
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Screwed past tense. If you trust the Swiss now, you are a idiot, seriously, who would be stupid enough to do it now after decades of mass betrayal. It was the bank of choice for terrorism, organised crime, corrupt governments, the actual National Socialist German Workers' Party (they backed protected those assets they stole and the Swiss knew exactly where they came from and not one squeak form SJWs no money in in apparently, could not mention the actual name because of lame lame filter not even the actual
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So I guess that you don't like Switzerland ? And that all the Swiss are in the same basket ?
The funny thing is that you knew about this because of a report for the Swiss government admitting that their Intelligence department failed to inform them about something.
I don't recall many cases in other governments where the government does so publicly, at least not before some whistle blower came up and that it was on the front page of every media.
In a way they owned up to it, but you probably wouldn't agree, I
Someone beat them to it (Score:2)
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
McDupe (Score:2)
Another dupe showing that Slashdot editors do not actually read Slashdot.
https://yro.slashdot.org/story... [slashdot.org]
Welcome news to Europe... or the EU? (Score:2)
Cause, you know, it's not a good idea to make people think Russia is part of the EU, just because it is part of Europe (too)...
And what will you call the UK then, soon? America's 51st state? ;)
The news is ... (Score:5, Interesting)
That there a new details about it. The fact that it was a CIA Front was know since *at least* the 90's... If you google Crypto AG, there's an article about it dated 1995.
"You trusted us" (Score:2)
The answer is found from 1:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Face the facts.
"You fucked up. You trusted us."
Dupety Dupeface (Score:5, Informative)
If Slashdot can dupe the article, I can dupe my comment.
Here are links directly to the report.
German: https://www.parlament.ch/centers/documents/de/bericht-gpdel-2020-11-10-d.pdf [parlament.ch]
French: https://www.parlament.ch/centers/documents/fr/bericht-gpdel-2020-11-10-f.pdf [parlament.ch]