France 24 news network wrote in a report referring to the revelation of Danish espionage for the US National Security Agency in monitoring leaders of the Europe: The history of espionage relations between the two countries is not new and Copenhagen has been making money this way for a long time.
A ccording to the French news network’s website which has intensified over the years that Sunday’s revelations that Danish spies assisted the US National Security Agency (NSA) in tracking European leaders and playing a key role in US intelligence, highlighted collaborations.
Euronews european media in a report entitled “How did Denmark become the nest of American cyber espionage in Europe?” wrote that: According to a media survey released on Sunday (May 30th), Denmark has helped a US intelligence agency spy on European leaders and has become a key European intelligence hub for US intelligence agencies.
In other words, Denmark served as a border checkpoint for the US National Security Agency with the aim of spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other politicians across the Rhine, as well as French, Norwegian and Swedish figures, at least between 2012 and 2014. The revelation, made public on May 30, was the result of an investigation by Danish Public Television (DR) in collaboration with several European media outlets, including the French newspaper Le Monde.
France 24 further wrote: However, the ambition of American cyber spies who want to eavesdrop on the whole world, including their allies, is nothing new. The 2012 revelations “Edward Snowden”, a well-known whistleblower who has long been a CIA employee, revealed the extent of US cyber surveillance of his other allies.
Following Denmark’s revelations, many were surprised to learn that Washington had chosen the small country in northern Europe as its base for spying on its transatlantic allies, and that the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, or FE) had agreed.
So if the US National Security Agency seems to believe that it can use Denmark as a base for espionage in Europe with complete immunity, it is thanks to a long tradition of cooperation between the two countries’ intelligence services.
The Danish weekly “Weekendavisen” also wrote: Denmark has become a formal and informal member of the Five Eyes Club (an intelligence service group of the five major English-speaking countries).
Thus, Denmark embarked on a policy of military support for Washington that, according to Splashbull, led Hansen Copenhagen to fight alongside the Americans in Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. According to Hansen Spliceball, Denmark can be considered a hostile country that has been at war with the United States for more than 30 years.
What did Denmark achieve?
Because of its strategic location in the North Sea not far from the Arctic Ocean, Washington is even more important to its Northern European ally, which is likely to be even more important in the coming years. “I think this cooperation will increase further with regard to the Arctic,” Hansen said, referring to the growing competition for natural resources between nations close to the North Pole.
In fact, this cooperation between the spies of the two allied countries is not one-sided. The national security expert said: Copenhagen’s cooperation with Washington has given Denmark access to information from US intelligence services that is of far higher quality than information from German intelligence services. At the same time, this cooperation has given Copenhagen a credible political weight against Washington that Denmark might not have been able to gain through any other means.
But is that enough?
Last year, a series of revelations about Danish spies collaborating with their American counterparts ended at the cost of tarnishing the Scandinavian country’s image. According to Splashbull Hansen, this will undoubtedly complicate relations between Denmark and other EU countries. However, he believes that this risk seems to have been worthwhile for the Danish authorities. Because what is important for leaders is to influence public opinion, and so far the consequences of these actions have been limited.
However, Splicesbull Hansen emphasizes that if more revelations are made, the pressure on the Danish government will increase to prove that Denmark has not become the nest of American cyber spies at a low cost.