Israel’s signal intelligence Unit 8200 and America’s National Security Agency (NSA) spied on Egypt after the election of Mohamed Morsi as president in 2012, specialist magazine “Israeli Defense” claimed on Saturday.
The Israeli magazine said that WikiLeaks released a report based on documents which mentioned that the NSA was asked to expand its cooperation with Unit 8200 to collect information about Egypt, reported Middle East Monitor.
The two agencies cooperated on many missions against what they called “strategic targets” across the Middle East, the Gulf States, South Asian countries and the predominantly Muslim states which once were part of the Soviet Union.
Israeli Defense reported that the joint US-Israel intelligence programs collected information about local policies in such countries, including details about their armed forces, the economy, diplomatic channels and other issues.
It also reported that unconventional weapons and active “terrorists” were also under surveillance; Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Palestinian resistance movements and global jihadists have apparently been common targets.
The magazine claimed that such cooperation has led to the development of strong ties between the NSA and Unit 8200.
The agencies exchange raw data and intercept communications, provide analyses, and build joint target banks.
In addition, each agency has representatives of the other in their offices as well as in their countries’ embassies.
Israeli Defense noted that Unit 8200 benefits from the advanced US facilities as for “decoding messages and using electronic means to collect information, including the technology known as FMS.”
The intelligence cooperation between the Americans and the Israelis goes back to before 2007, when the CIA and Mossad spied on Iran’s nuclear plants.
In 2012, the NSA and Unit 8200 signed a cooperation agreement to secure their internal networks as pointed out by the magazine.
