The Washington Post reports on a new US Submarine capable of tapping sub-ocean laser communications trunk lines all around the globe. The Wash. Post states : According to intelligence experts, it can tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.The military has just opened the door to trade, business, and economic espionage on both our allies and enemies.

This submarine opens the door for the intelligence community to feed commercial communication by not only governments, but, corporate enterprises in foreign lands as well as here, to various agencies of the US government. Such espionage could prove very useful to the Commerce Department, State Department, and trade and tariff agencies within the US. Satellite communications espionage has been around for awhile, but, the safe haven of ocean bottom laser trunk lines will no longer be safe. Since the US has already demonstrated its intent to interpret treaties and international conventions for its own purposes (e.g. Geneva and Kyoto), there is no authority on earth capable of halting misuse of the USS Jimmy Carter communications taps for any purposes the White House dictates via the intelligence community.

The guise of monitoring flows of money as potential sources of funding for terrorist organization pretty much gives the US carte blanche to listen in on commercial communications of any organization or nation on earth. Given the rapidly deepening trade deficits, and ever lowering of the US dollar becoming major sources of contention between the US and allies, the lines between military and commercial espionage have been washed away. The new wars of the 21st century may now become military responses to trade relations which appear to be based on military espionage of foreign commercial activity.