February 25, 2015

Why does Greenpeace interest those who spy?

editor:	Neelo Aysha Scholz

Hundreds of secret intelligence papers from intelligence agencies around the world have been leaked to Al Jazeera’s investigative unit. Including communication within and between Britain’s M16, Russia’s FSB, Israel’s Mossad, Australia’s ASIO and South Africa’s SSA, they highlight the inner workings and highly politicized nature of modern day espionage. They reveal cooperation between agencies to carry out surveillance, of governments using information to squash political dissent and a keen interest in environmental agencies.

Yesterday Al- Jazeera and its partner The Guardian revealed how Greenpeace director, Kumi Naidoo, was seen as a threat to South Korea ahead of the G20 Summit there in 2010. Their National Intelligence Service (NIS) had requested South Africa for information on their citizen, labeling him as one of three “dangerous persons” ahead of the summit.

Greenpeace has long attracted the hostile attention of governments and corporations with its highly effective lobbying and direct action style. In 1985 the Rainbow Warrior, its flagship became the target of French Secret intelligence, in New Zealand, when on its way to protest against a French nuclear test, killing a photographer. The Guardian also reports, the FBI, undercover British police and corporations such as Shell and BP have targeted or used private security firms to spy on Greenpeace.

Among the spy cables, another document reveals the CIA’s involvement in climate change issues. Apparently interested in renewable energy, they worked with their partner agencies to explore “wind, solar biomass and geothermal for electricity and alternative fuels for transportation”. Though the reason for CIA’s enormous interest in climate change is not clear, it is possible that they anticipate potential conflict as a result of climate change.

Or as senior U.S. climate scientist Alan Robock expressed his concern that the CIA and other agencies are funding climate change research to learn if new technologies could be used as potential weapons. Robock said he had been approached by two men who said they were consultants for the CIA and who asked whether America would be able to detect another country trying to control the US weather, He added: “At the same time, I wondered whether they also wanted to know if others would know about it, if the CIA was controlling the world’s climate.”