The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A top QC yesterday warned that the US ‘spying’ allegations “hurt us at every level”, and warned that they threatened to undermine the Bahamas’s very business model - that of an international business and financial centre.

Brian Moree, senior partner at McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes, said that if claims about the US National Security Agency (NSA) intercepting and recording every cell phone conversation in the Bahamas were proven true, it would be “very disconcerting and troubling” to all persons and investors doing business in this nation.

Urging the Government to verify whether The Intercept website’s report was true, Mr Moree told Tribune Business: “If this is accurate and correct, it would be very disconcerting and troubling to this country, and particularly people engaged in business.

“It would seem to be an intrusion into the sovereignty of the Bahamas, and the privacy of people having phone conversations in this country.”

The well-known QC echoed the concerns of many about whether revelations of the NSA ‘spying’ programme could deter investment and commercial activity in the Bahamas.

He added that it could also undermine the Bahamas’ efforts to position itself as an international business centre, as companies, investors and businesses may have ‘second thoughts’ about coming to a country where there was widespread eavesdropping by the US.

“I think that it will be very troubling for anyone doing business in the Bahamas,” Mr Moree told this newspaper. “It is not consistent with our position as an international business centre, inviting people to conduct business in this country.”

“We are positioning the Bahamas as a major international centre for business, and it does not help our cause if it is discovered that all telephone conversations in and out of this country are being monitored and stored in a database in the US.

“Quite apart from serious legal issues concerning privacy rights that everyone is entitled to, it [the alleged NSA activities] is wholly inconsistent with the conduct of local and international business and commerce.”

Mr Moree added that a legitimate expectation of privacy “has absolutely nothing to do” with covering up or hiding illegal activities.

He said it was “a slippery slope” when agencies such as the NSA appeared to go beyond their anti-terror remit, and use sophisticated surveillance programs for more questionable purposes.

“If it is indeed disclosed that all phone conversations are being listened to and targeted by a foreign agency, it hurts us at every level,” Mr Moree told Tribune Business.

“It hurts the quality of life and protection of the privacy of people in the Bahamas; it hurts as an intrusion into the sovereignty of this country; and it hurts us as an international business centre where people conducting commerce expect, and are entitled to expect, a reasonable level of privacy with regard to their business affairs.”

Tribune Business reported yesterday how the NSA program could be used for industrial and commercial espionage, as well as to learn about government policy decisions.

These themes were echoed by Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader, Branville McCartney, who told Tribune Business that the intercepting, listening to and recording of Bahamas-based cellular conversations was also a threat to attorney/client privilege and confidential communications between patient and doctors.

Backing Mr Moree, the DNA leader, who is an attorney himself, said: “We have clients that call us around the clock depending on what type of matter it is, and those communications with attorneys are supposed to be confidential.

“The same applies to doctors, and also business people doing transactions, negotiating contracts and paying suppliers. If they are listening, it can put persons at a very serious disadvantage.”

Mr McCartney added that the NSA claims, if true, also raised concerns over whether it was spying on government ministers and uncovering policy secrets that could undermine Bahamian national interests.

He warned, too, that the NSA revelations “could be a deterrent” to new and existing investors doing business in the Bahamas, due to fears their privacy rights may have been compromised.

“We have persons coming to invest in this country, do business in this country; not just Americans but investors from other countries,” Mr McCartney told Tribune Business.

“But if they know Uncle Sam is spying and listening in, it could be a deterrent and not make the Bahamas attractive. We need to get to the bottom of it.”

The DNA leader said he was “waiting with bated breath” to see how the Christie administration would respond, and whether it had any prior knowledge of the NSA program.

The Intercept article was written by the journalist who initially broke the NSA scandal, and appears to be based on documents obtained by agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Most Bahamians spoken to by Tribune Business yesterday said they believed the article, and its allegations, were largely accurate.

The article alleges that the Bahamas, and another unnamed country, have been used as test ‘guinea pigs’ for an NSA spying/eavesdropping program called SOMALGET.

This program, according to The Intercept, has been used to “secretly intercept, record and archive the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas”. Calls and their content, it alleges, have been archived for up to 30 days or one month.

The Intercept article said the NSA program was operating without the knowledge or consent of the Bahamian government.

It added that the NSA seemed to have used existing co-operation channels between the Bahamas and US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as “ a backdoor to the country’s cellular telephone network, enabling it to covertly record and store the ‘full-take audio’ of every mobile call made to, from and within the Bahamas – and to replay those calls for up to a month”.

The Intercept described SOMALGET as “a cutting-edge tool that enables the NSA to vacuum up and store the actual content of every conversation in an entire country”.