One question I did have about the Current Situation was “what happened to Echelon?” You would think that with all the money poured into it that it would have vacuumed up some hits. Apparently it did, but the real intelligence breakdown here is in putting together the big picture from all this data.
The FAZ, quoting unnamed German intelligence sources, said that the Echelon spy network was being used to collect information about the terrorist threats, and that U.K. intelligence services apparently also had advance warning. The FAZ, one of Germany’s most respected dailies, said that even as far back as six months ago western and near-east press services were receiving information that such attacks were being planned.
Within the American intelligence community, the warnings were taken seriously and surveillance intensified, the FAZ said. However, there was disagreement on how such terrorist attacks could be prevented, the newspaper said.