Onyx (listening system)

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Parabolic antennas of the Onyx system in Leuk
Receiving station of the Onyx system in Zimmerwald
Operation center Zimmerwald

Onyx is a Swiss satellite interception system operated by the Federal Intelligence Service (NDB) . The facility is operated by Command Support Brigade 41 of the Swiss Armed Forces .

Function and purpose

In the Swiss villages of Leuk and Heimenschwand, there are parabolic antennas that monitor satellite communications . The captured vast amounts of data from radio emissions , e-mails , telephone calls and fax transmissions are automatically filtered, mostly using targeted keywords, for relevant data for your client. Further filter criteria are achieved with mainframes using artificial intelligence , optical text recognition or voice testing . The results are then forwarded to the head office in Zimmerwald . Around 40 employees there use the findings to write secret reports that are forwarded to the Department of Defense in Bern . The system is primarily intended to combat terrorism .

History and client

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Federal Council launched a secret military program called " Satos " . In the first two stages of the program, a system was developed that was able to intercept communications via radio link , shortwave and fax signals . The third stage finally enabled the complete electronic reconnaissance of satellite connections.

  • 2000: First commissioning
  • 2001: Operational trial run
  • 2004: operational operation

Secrecy and control

The decisions on the Onyx system were made covertly and without logging. The financing also took place through loan tranches and with undermining the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) in a way that is not regulated by law, and critics say illegal. The monitoring center in Zimmerwald was built under the pretext of a multi-purpose hall.

A control over the collected data and their use is to be ensured by the independent supervisory authority (UKI). The precise task of the supervisory authority is defined by section 6, article 15 of the regulation on electronic warfare (VEKF) .

Exposure and CIA affair

Towards the end of 2000, onyx was uncovered bit by bit. The Defense Department received the Big Brother Award Switzerland in 2000 and 2001.

The journalist Urs Paul Engeler wrote a more extensive report for Die Weltwoche in October 2005.

With the publication of a fax intercepted by Onyx in the SonntagsBlick on January 8, 2006, which was leaked to the newspaper by an unknown source, allegedly from the area of ​​the Federal Palace, the interception system of the Swiss population became known and aware. In the fax that from the Egyptian came Ministry of Foreign Affairs, earlier reports from other sources than were CIA - secret prisons in Eastern Europe for terrorism suspects ( Black Site reconfirmed) and for the first time also called nationalities of the prisoners. The fax had been with the Onyx clients and even some (not all) federal councilors since November 2005, without them taking any action and at least asking the USA to comment.

Web links

Commons : Onyx surveillance system  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Strategic telecommunications intelligence in Switzerland. In: Sicherheitsmelder.de. October 25, 2005, accessed March 1, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Deux nouvelles antennes pour l'installation de militaire Heimenschwand. In: admin.ch. March 17, 2005, accessed March 1, 2019 (French).
  3. ↑ Video Zoom: World Wide War (October 25, 2013, 0:45 am, 43:31 min., See min. 21:45)  in the ZDFmediathek , accessed on February 5, 2014. (offline)
  4. ↑ Ordinance on Electronic Warfare (VEKF)
  5. ↑ DDPS media release of November 23, 2011 ( Memento of March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Urs Paul Engeler: Page no longer available , search in web archives: What do you say now? In: Die Weltwoche . 10/2005.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.weltwoche.ch

Coordinates: 46 ° 19 ′ 5 "  N , 7 ° 38 ′ 43"  E ; CH1903:  615916  /  129649