'TV shows secret spyplane pictures'

Satellite TV viewers in Britain and Europe can watch live broadcasts of anti-terroist operations being carried out by American spyplanes in the Balkans, it was claimed today.

The secret video links pose a serious security problem, making it easier for terrorists to tune in to a live video of US intelligence activity, according to The Guardian.

For more than six months, live pictures - from manned spy aircraft and drones - have been broadcast through Telstar II, a commercial TV relay satellite over Brazil.

The broadcasts are not encripted, enabling anyone with a normal satellite receiver to watch the surveillance operations as they happen. It is claimed that viewers who tuned in this week could watch a sudden security alert around the US army's Kosovon headquarters - visited last year by President George Bush and US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The alarming lapse in US security was discovered by British engineer and satellite enthusaist John Locker, who specialises in tracking commercial satellite services. He said: "I thought the US had made a deadly error. My first thought was that they were sending their spyplane pictures through the wrong satellite by mistake and broadcasting secret information across Europe."

He claims he tried repeatedly to alert US, British and Nato offcials about the leak but he says his warnings were ignored and he received a letter saying the problem was "a known hardware limitation".

Embarrassed US military intelligence today admitted that the leak was "very worrying".

One senior official said: "We seem to be transmitting this information potentially straight to our enemies. I'm worried that the people we are tracking will see what we are looking at and - much more worrying - what we are not looking at. This could let people see where our forces are and what they are doing. That is putting our boys at risk".

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