Australia spied on Indonesia talks with US law firm in 2013
• New Edward Snowden documents show ASD listened to Indonesian government talks and shared what they learned with US
• Australia and the US share access to bulk Indonesian telecommunications data, including those of Indonesian officials
• Australian spies have obtained 1.8 million encrypted master keys from an Indonesian telecommunications company and decrypted almost all
• US mentored Australia to break encryption codes of the PNG army
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passed the information to the NSA. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
Australia spied on Indonesia and shared the information with the United States when the two countries were involved in a trade dispute in February 2013, a new document from whistleblower Edward Snowden shows.
Australia listened in on the communications of on an unnamed American law firm which was representing Indonesia in the discussions and then passed the information to the National Security Agency, according to a document obtained by the New York Times.
It is unclear what the discussions were about - but two trade disputes around that time were about the importation of clove cigarettes and shrimp, says the paper.
A monthly bulletin from the NSA's liaison office in Canberra said the Australian Signals (ASD) was monitoring the talks and offered to share any information with the US. It offered up that "information covered by attorney-client privilege may be included".
Liaison officials asked for guidance for Australia from the NSA general counsel's office on the surveillance. The bulletin did not specify what the guidance was, but said Australia was "able to continue to cover the talks, providing highly useful intelligence for interested US customers".
In addition, a 2012 document reveals that America and Australia share access to Indonesian telecommunications. The NSA has given Australia access to bulk data collected from Indosat, one of Indonesia's largest telecommunications networks. This includes data on Indonesian government officials in a number of departments.
The ASD has also obtained 1.8m encrypted master keys from the Telkomsel mobile telephone network in Indonesia and has decrypted almost all of them according to a document from last year.
According to a separate document, the US sought to "mentor" Australia to break the encryption codes used by the Armed Forces in Papua New Guinea and another document reveals the NSA and ASD run an intelligence facility in Alice Springs where half the personnel are from the NSA with particular focus on monitoring Indonesia and China. It is known that Australia and the US jointly run a defence facility near Alice Springs named Pine Gap.
The fresh round of revelations comes three months after a diplomatic dispute began between Indonesia and Australia after Guardian Australia and the ABC reported Australia and spied on the mobile telephones of Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and his inner circle, including his wife.
The law firm retained by the Indonesian government for the trade talks was not named in the documents but Mayer Brown, a Chicago-based firm with a global practice, was then advising the Indonesian government on trade issues, the New York Times reports.
The NSA and the DSD declined to answer questions about the reported surveillance, including whether information involving the American law firm was shared with United States trade officials or negotiators.
A spokesperson from the Australian Defence Force office said that in gathering information to support Australia's national interests, its intelligence agencies adhered strictly to their legal obligations, including when they engaged with foreign counterparts.
According to the 2013 bulletin from Canberra, Australia was also spying on a target in Afghanistan who was an American citizen but it did not detail what action, if any, the NSA took after Australia shared the information with them.
Last year, Snowden leaked thousands of documents to media outlets including the Guardian and the Washington Post. One of the journalists to whom he leaked the documents, Laura Poitras, was bylined on the Times piece.
The NSA is not allowed to target American citizens or businesses for surveillance without a warrant, although it is allowed to intercept communications between Americans and foreign intelligence targets. Information disclosed by Snowden has included the NSA's collection of the telephone records of millions of Americans.
The agency has also come under fire for eavesdropping on heads of state, including the German chancellor Angela Merkel, and for working in industrial espionage.
In November 2013, it was reported that the NSA and its Australian counterparts had worked together on a surveillance operation covering a 2007 United Nations climate change conference in Indonesia. The report caused the Australian government considerable diplomatic embarrassment.
A Chicago law firm, Mayer Brown, was advising the Indonesian government at the time covered by the newly released document.
A lawyer from the firm who was involved in the talks told the Times: "I always wonder if someone is listening, because you would have to be an idiot not to wonder in this day and age. But I've never really thought I was being spied on."
The lawyer added: "None of this stuff is very sexy. It's just run of the mill."
The NSA "declined to answer questions" about the reported surveillance.
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