Editing ECHELON (section)

===European Parliament investigation (2000–2001)===
[[File:Nicky Hager at European Parliament April 2001b.jpg|thumb|The New Zealand journalist [[Nicky Hager]], who testified before the [[European Parliament]] and provided specific details about the ECHELON [[surveillance]] system<ref>{{cite web|first=Kieren|last=McCarthy|title=This is how we know Echelon exists|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/14/this_is_how_we_know/|work=[[The Register]]|access-date=19 December 2013|date=14 September 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209042652/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/09/14/this_is_how_we_know/|archive-date=9 December 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The program's capabilities and political implications were investigated by a committee of the European Parliament during 2000 and 2001 with a report published in 2001.<ref name="EP"/> In July 2000, the Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System was established by the European parliament to investigate the [[surveillance]] network.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rudner|first=Martin|title=Britain betwixt and between: UK SIGINT alliance strategy's transatlantic and European connections|journal=Intelligence & National Security}}</ref> It was chaired by the Portuguese politician [[Carlos Coelho (politician)|Carlos Coelho]], who was in charge of supervising investigations throughout 2000 and 2001.

In May 2001, as the committee finalised its report on the ECHELON system, a delegation travelled to [[Washington, D.C.]] to attend meetings with US officials from the following agencies and departments:
* US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)<ref name="bbcusech"/>
* US [[United States Department of Commerce|Department of Commerce]] (DOC)<ref name="bbcusech"/>
* US National Security Agency (NSA)<ref name="bbcusech"/>

All meetings were cancelled by the US government and the committee was forced to end its trip prematurely.<ref name="bbcusech">{{cite news|last=Roxburgh|first=Angus|title=EU investigators 'snubbed' in US|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1325186.stm|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=28 January 2014|date=11 May 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203035200/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1325186.stm|archive-date=3 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> According to a [[BBC]] correspondent in May 2001, "The US Government still refuses to admit that Echelon even exists."<ref name="bbcechelon1"/>

In July 2001, the Committee released its final report.<ref name="EUechelon">{{cite web|title=Report on the existence of a global system for the interception of private and commercial communications (ECHELON interception system) (2001/2098(INI))|url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A5-2001-0264&format=XML&language=EN|publisher=[[European Parliament]]|date=11 July 2001|access-date=10 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921163352/http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&reference=A5-2001-0264&format=XML&language=EN|archive-date=21 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> The EP report concluded that it seemed likely that ECHELON is a method of sorting captured signal traffic, rather than a comprehensive analysis tool.<ref name="EP" /> On 5 September 2001, the European parliament voted to accept the report.<ref name="apechelonusa">{{cite news|title=Report: Echelon exists, should be guarded against|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-09-05-echelon.htm|access-date=7 February 2014|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=5 September 2001|agency=[[Associated Press]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221065509/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/news/2001-09-05-echelon.htm|archive-date=21 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> 

The European Parliament stated in its report that the term ECHELON is used in a number of contexts, but that the evidence presented indicates that it was the name for a signals intelligence collection system.<ref name="EP" /> The report concludes that, on the basis of information presented, ECHELON was capable of interception and content inspection of telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic globally through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission, [[public switched telephone network]]s (which once carried most Internet traffic), and [[microwave]] links.<ref name=EP/>