Australian embassies part of US spying, say reports

The document shows the existence of a highly sensitive signals intelligence collection programme, codenamed STATEROOM, conducted from sites at the US embassies and consulates and from the diplomatic missions of other intelligence partners including Australia, Britain and Canada.



"They (the surveillance facilities) are covert, and their true mission is not known by the majority of the diplomatic staff at the facility where they are assigned," the document says.

A former Australian Defence Intelligence officer has told Fairfax Media the directorate conducts surveillance operations from Australian embassies across Asia and the Pacific.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to comment on "intelligence matters", Fairfax said.

"It is the long-standing practice of Australian governments not to comment on intelligence matters", a departmental spokesperson told Fairfax.