echelon

i know this isnt the correct place to post this but i am in the middle of writing a paper on the united states "project ECHELON" and how it is a blatant violation of our 4th ammendment rights and i came acrss a question i cannot answer and i wanted to know if anyone here could answer it...
my question is how was information on the existance of echelon released? was there a leak in the NSA? an informant?

any response is helpful and thank you in advance

Here's some background, including how the information got out.

Inside Echelon
http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/6929/1.html

The leaked documents.
http://cryptome.org/echelon-p377.htm

Although an interesting topic, your right not here at a Computer Hard Ware Forum. Thread is closed.


And I see you got some help too. Thx DUANEB