Related:

16 February 2014, NYT: Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/16/us/document-describes-eavesdropping-on-american-law-firm.html

FEB. 15, 2014

Document Describes Eavesdropping on American Law Firm

Following is an excerpt from a document provided by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden. It is from the February 2013 edition of a monthly bulletin of SUSLOC, the acronym for the N.S.A. office that handles liaisons with Australian intelligence. It describes how Australian intelligence conducted surveillance of trade talks between Indonesia and the United States and, in the process, monitored communications between Indonesian officials and an American law firm retained by Indonesia for help with the trade dispute. The Australians then sought legal guidance from the N.S.A. (The document refers to the D.S.D -- the Defense Signals Directorate -- the former name of Australia's counterpart to the N.S.A. In May 2013, the agency was renamed the Australian Signals Directorate, or A.S.D.)

(TS//SI//REL) SUSLOC Facilitates Sensitive DSD Reporting on Trade Talks: According to SIGINT information obtained by DSD, the Indonesian Government has employed a US law firm to represent its interests in trade talks with the US. On DSD's behalf, SUSLOC sought NSA OGC guidance regarding continued reporting on the Indonesian government communications, taking into account that information covered by attorney-client privilege may be included. OGC provided clear guidance and DSD has been able to continue to cover the talks, providing highly useful intelligence for interested US customers.