Brazil not satisfied with US explanations on spying
July 16, 2013, 8:40 am

US Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon declined an invitation to a meeting on the issue [AP]

“Some explanations were offered, but we consider them insufficient,” Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota told reporters on Monday.

The Brazilian daily O’ Globo’s report on US spying says that the NSA established a base in Brasilia for data intercepting.

The report states that agents have been posing as diplomats in Brasilia since 2002 and spying on official communications.

Patriota said technical experts from different Brazilian ministries are working to draw up a set of questions that will be submitted to the US for further explanation.

“A group formed by representatives of the Justice, Defence, Science and Technology, and Foreign Ministries and the Institutional Security Cabinet will prepare a list of questions so that we can request additional clarifications,” Patriota said.

Defence Minister Celso Amorim said at a Senate meeting last week that Brazil would push for greater investment and domestic technology in cyber security.

The Brazilian Senate invited US Ambassador to Brazil Thomas Shannon to a meeting on the issue, but he declined the invitation and said he was not authorised to discuss the matter.

Brazil’s digital data transmission cables are all operated by foreign companies.

Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo told a Senate hearing earlier last week that the government was worried that the US had accessed sensitive information on oil reserves and other strategic data.

“We have a major concern about the possibility of leaks of strategic information, such as the pre-salt oil reserves, even though Petrobras [state oil giant] has a very good security structure,” he said.

Source: Agencies