Newspaper details Assange's CIA surveillance

The CIA used private Spanish security company UC Global to secretly install microphones inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to monitor WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, El Pais reported on Wednesday. UC Global was hired to provide security for the embassy and Assange resided there from 2012 to 2019. According to the newspaper, UC Global founder and head David Morales first came into contact with the CIA in 2017. He informed his employees that the company would have to provide a new American client named ‘X’ with remote access to the server that collected the data from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The information shared reportedly included profiles of Assange’s visitors, including lawyers and diplomats, as well as cell phone data.

Morales was quoted as saying in a chat message that “the people in control are our friends in the USA.” His team secretly planted microphones in the base of a fire extinguisher to listen in despite Assange’s habit of using a white noise machine to prevent surveillance. Stickers were attached to window corners to avoid vibrations and allow sound to be recorded through laser microphones. In December 2017, Lenin Moreno, Ecuador’s president, wanted to grant Assange Ecuadorian citizenship and get him out of Britain in a diplomatic car. Morales’ team reportedly recorded a conversation between Assange and Ecuadorian officials and then quickly sent it to the US. Washington responded by issuing an arrest warrant for Assange to Britain, which prompted organizers to abort the plan.

In 2019, Spanish authorities launched an investigation into Morales’ company and briefly detained him. He has since been released on bail.