CANADIAN SPIES JOIN U.S. DRUG WAR

Ottawa Base Listens In On Traffickers' Conversations; Forces' Role
Goes Far Beyond Guarding Canadian Shores

High-tech military spies located in Ottawa have joined the U.S. war
on drugs by eavesdropping on South American drug lords.

Under a program, codenamed Sandkey, spies from Canadian Forces
Station Leitrim have been listening to conversations of international
narcotics traffickers. Spanish linguists from Leitrim have been
assigned to American ships to intercept drug dealers' radio
transmissions.

Another group of Canadians, also able to speak Spanish, has been
assigned to other U.S. units to collect and report on communications
between known dealers suspected of shipping drugs into the western
hemisphere.

The program is a major push for the Canadian Forces' involvement in
the war on drugs as it concentrates on international activities. In
the past, the military's electronic eavesdroppers have used their
talents to support RCMP counter-narcotics operations at home, mainly
monitoring drug-laden ships or aircraft entering Canadian territory.

Sandkey involves officers from the U.S. military, Customs service,
Drug Enforcement Agency and Coast Guard.

CFS Leitrim spies were invited in 1993 to play a small role in the
Sandkey program by their counterparts at the ultra-secret National
Security Agency in the U.S. The NSA monitors communications of
governments and individuals worldwide. In January 1996 the Canadian
Forces became a full member of the Sandkey program.

Canadian military officials were not available to discuss the
program. It is not government policy to reveal details about spy
operations.

But Canadian Forces officials privately insist that Sandkey
operations are legal since they involve radio transmissions and other
communications in which drug dealers have no reasonable expectation
of privacy.

Eavesdropping by Sandkey spies has resulted in successful drug busts
on the high seas. In 1998, for example, Leitrim spies played a major
role in 11 drug operations that resulted in the arrest of 14
smugglers and the seizure of more than two tonnes of cocaine.

The locations of the busts are secret.

Sandkey is part of an extensive U.S. intelligence network designed to
keep track of drug smugglers.

That network, however, is not always successful. Last month, Peruvian
air force jets, directed by U.S. intelligence aircraft, mistakenly
shot down a small plane carrying American missionaries. A woman and
her infant daughter were killed. The plane was mistakenly thought to
be carrying drugs.

Canadian intelligence specialist Bill Robinson says U.S. and Canadian
electronic spies are known to co-operate and share information as
well as take part in professional exchange programs. "But this is the
first time I've heard of regular deployments."

Mr. Robinson says one link to the Sandkey program could be a cadre of
Canadian Forces electronics experts operating out of a U.S. military
detachment near San Antonio, Texas. The Canadian Forces acknowledges
there are Leitrim officials on assignment at the base but does not
give information about what they do.

But Mr. Robinson notes that the base is involved in supporting the
U.S. military's Southern Command, the agency responsible for defence
activities and counter-drug operations throughout Central and South
America.

Mr. Robinson also says the Sandkey program raises the larger question
of whether it is in Canadian interests to be involved so closely
supporting U.S. policies that promote an active military role in
Central and South America. "We don't always have the same priorities
as the U.S. -- yet as far as intelligence is concerned, we've
essentially adopted a position where we have no differences," he says.

Leitrim's role in the U.S. drug war also raises questions about the
previous alleged associations of some of its employees. In 1996 and
1998 there were concerns about drug use and dealing at the base and
the possibility that sensitive information may have been passed to
drug traffickers.

There were also allegations that military police botched the 1996
drug investigation involving Leitrim staff. During the investigation
an informant told police that drug use at the site, involving mainly
cocaine and hashish, had been going on for years.

Defence Minister Art Eggleton insisted the military police
investigation was thorough. But a Defence Department review of the
case released in 1998 under the Access to Information law suggested
the investigation had been bungled.

Contrary to Mr. Eggleton's denial, the review found serious flaws in
the drug probe. Among the findings was that there had been the
"potential" of alleged drug users at Leitrim passing on classified
information to criminal organizations, namely drug traffickers.

Military police also never carried out any surveillance of the
alleged drug users or traffickers during their investigation.