CIA Tracked Secret Correspondence of Over 120 Countries for Nearly 50 Years

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), together with Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND), intercepted secret messages from officials in more than 120 countries over several decades. This was revealed in a joint investigation by The Washington Post and the German TV channel ZDF.

The interception was made possible through the Swiss company Crypto AG, which was jointly owned by the intelligence agencies. Crypto AG supplied encryption equipment to the governments of more than a hundred countries.

According to The Washington Post, which analyzed internal intelligence documents, the CIA and BND manipulated the technology to break encryption and gain access to confidential information. The agencies monitored communications from 1970 to 2018. The operation was originally called “Thesaurus,” but was later renamed “Rubicon.”

From the 1950s to the 2000s, Crypto AG’s encryption devices were used by more than 120 countries, including Iran, India, Pakistan, Latin American countries, and the Vatican (with the exception of the USSR and China).

Former government state secretary Bernd Schmidbauer, who coordinated the work of German intelligence, confirmed that such an operation did take place. According to him, it was discontinued in 1993.

Meanwhile, the Swiss government has already ordered an investigation and review of the published information.

The company Crypto AG, whose equipment is still used in dozens of countries, was liquidated in 2018. The companies that acquired most of its assets claim they have no ties to any intelligence agencies.