# 3 undersea cables cut in 3 days ... coincidence, or prelude to some action? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 2, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923 "2008-02-02T00:03:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/21 "2008-02-02T20:51:29Z")
Sheez. Are ships anchors capable of dropping down 6500 feet even? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/22 "2008-02-02T21:13:08Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] Sheez. Are ships anchors capable of dropping down 6500 feet even? :dubious: [/QUOTE] To be fair, we don’t know how deep the ocean is where the cable break is. It might be quite shallow. Wikipedia states that the average depth of the Red Sea is only about 1600 feet deep, though the central trench can be as deep as 8200 feet. So basically, I have no idea whether a ship’s anchor could reach deep enough. But to curtail (or enhance, depending) the conspiracy theorists out there- it’s got to be a real bitch to get far enough down to cut one of those cables. I suspect it would take a whole lot more know-how and equipment than your basic terrorists hiding in a cave would have. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/23 "2008-02-02T22:33:07Z")
I would think that if someone cut the cable to install a tap elsewhere, the tap should be detectable. I don’t know if you can tap into an optical cable without causing a drop in power, which should be detectable. Anyway, if it was done intentionally, it wouldn’t have to be as a prelude to war. It could be economic sabotage by any number of interests, or something done to disrupt communications temporarily so that some operation could be carried out. Or even as a test by a malevolent government to see how quickly communications can be restored and how much chaos is caused, so that they can include it in war planning in the future. It wouldn’t have to be the U.S. or the IDF doing this. You can’t rule out Russians, Chinese, France, or really any economic power with the ability to do it and interests in the region. Since we don’t know why it was done (if it is in fact not just a serious of coincidences), we can’t really guess who could have been behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/24 "2008-02-02T23:12:45Z")
[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading] I half wonder if there isn’t some non-anchor explanation. [/QUOTE] Sharks. Lasers on heads. Whaddaya need, a road map? ---
**Author:** ![Anomalous\_Reading](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Anomalous\_Reading](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anomalous_Reading)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/25 "2008-02-03T15:54:53Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Sharks. Lasers on heads. Whaddaya need, a road map? [/QUOTE] Tectonic activity, but I’d expect that to show on seismic monitors. There are other explanations… that’s all I was saying. I don’t wear tin foil hats - as a rule. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/26 "2008-02-03T16:03:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] I would think that if someone cut the cable to install a tap elsewhere, the tap should be detectable. I don’t know if you can tap into an optical cable without causing a drop in power, which should be detectable. [/QUOTE] Well, _obviously_ you’d have that, but that’s why they cut the cable. First you cut them somewhere, then you put in a tap somewhere else down the line, so nobody’ll be the wiser. Between this conjecture and my penchant for conspiracy, I can’t see _any_ other possible explanation for this whole business. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/27 "2008-02-03T16:42:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] I would think that if someone cut the cable to install a tap elsewhere, the tap should be detectable. I don’t know if you can tap into an optical cable without causing a drop in power, which should be detectable. [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t it be possible to set up an amplifier ( or whatever the term would be in optics ) downstream of the signal splitter, to boost the power back up ? It also occurs to me that any tapping need not have been done underwater; only the cutting part. Perhaps to extend the time it takes to do the repairs. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/28 "2008-02-03T16:55:02Z")
These are long haul high capacity data links. What do you suppose needs to be tapped exactly? Most of this internet traffic runs in the clear. If they are using encryption…well, then it’s encrypted. Regardless if you were going to attempt to capture the data streams the bottom of the ocean isn’t exactly necessary to do so. You could tap in at any of the peering sites much easier. Hell, if I wanted to do the research and find out where the border routers were between the ISP peers I could probably tap the traffic (for a few seconds before it overwhelmed my systems) from HERE. They there is the why…WHY would the government want to tap in there? What would they gain? Think they will intercept sooper sekrit emails from AQ? And that they can only tap into those sooper sekrit emails from the bottom of the ocean? -XT ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/29 "2008-02-03T18:41:06Z")
[Ships did not cause Internet cable damage](http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2008/February/theworld_February77.xml§ion=theworld&col=) > [@](#): > > ‘The ministry’s maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area,’ a statement said. > > ‘The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships,’ the statement added. > [@](#): > > A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/30 "2008-02-03T18:42:11Z")
I have no idea what kind of traffic is on those cables. I had assumed there could also be fibers with 20,000 voice channels on them in that bundle. Again, the tap wouldn’t have to be done where the break is - you cut the cable so that no one can detect the process of installing the tap - which could be done anywhere. It’s been a couple of decades since I studied optical transmission, so I have no idea what kind of equipment is available for detecting splices, amplifying signals, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/31 "2008-02-03T20:00:35Z")
If someone is doing this deliberately, they’re doing it damned fast; _especially_ if taps or gates are installed. Four cables in a week at different locations would likely strain even the nefarious Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/32 "2008-02-04T01:08:29Z")
The Federation of American Scientists produced an interesting article which covers tapping of submarine cables: [Interception Capabilities 2000](http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/ic2000/ic2000.htm#_Toc448565526) > [@](#): > > ``` > * Submarine cable interception > > ``` > > 1. Submarine cables now play a dominant role in international telecommunications, since - in contrast to the limited bandwidth available for space systems - optical media offer seemingly unlimited capacity. Save where cables terminate in countries where telecommunications operators provide Comint access (such as the UK and the US), submarine cables appear intrinsically secure because of the nature of the ocean environment. > > 2. In October 1971, this security was shown not to exist. A US submarine, Halibut, visited the Sea of Okhotsk off the eastern USSR and recorded communications passing on a military cable to the Khamchatka Peninsula. Halibut was equipped with a deep diving chamber, fully in view on the submarine’s stern. The chamber was described by the US Navy as a “deep submergence rescue vehicle”. The truth was that the “rescue vehicle” was welded immovably to the submarine. Once submerged, deep-sea divers exited the submarine and wrapped tapping coils around the cable. Having proven the principle, USS Halibut returned in 1972 and laid a high capacity recording pod next to the cable. The technique involved no physical damage and was unlikely to have been readily detectable.(29) > > 3. The Okhotsk cable tapping operation continued for ten years, involving routine trips by three different specially equipped submarines to collect old pods and lay new ones; sometimes, more than one pod at a time. New targets were added in 1979. That summer, a newly converted submarine called USS Parche travelled from San Francisco under the North Pole to the Barents Sea, and laid a new cable tap near Murmansk. Its crew received a presidential citation for their achievement. The Okhotsk cable tap ended in 1982, after its location was compromised by a former NSA employee who sold information about the tap, codenamed IVY BELLS, to the Soviet Union. One of the IVY BELLS pods is now on display in the Moscow museum of the former KGB. The cable tap in the Barents Sea continued in operation, undetected, until tapping stopped in 1992. > > 4. During 1985, cable-tapping operations were extended into the Mediterranean, to intercept cables linking Europe to West Africa. (30) After the cold war ended, the USS Parche was refitted with an extended section to accommodate larger cable tapping equipment and pods. Cable taps could be laid by remote control, using drones. USS Parche continues in operation to the present day, but the precise targets of its missions remain unknown. The Clinton administration evidently places high value on its achievements, Every year from 1994 to 1997, the submarine crew has been highly commended.(31) Likely targets may include the Middle East, Mediterranean, eastern Asia, and South America. The United States is the only naval power known to have deployed deep-sea technology for this purpose. > > 5. Miniaturised inductive taps recorders have also been used to intercept underground cables.(32) Optical fibre cables, however, do not leak radio frequency signals and cannot be tapped using inductive loops. NSA and other Comint agencies have spent a great deal of money on research into tapping optical fibres, reportedly with little success. But long distance optical fibre cables are not invulnerable. The key means of access is by tampering with optoelectronic “repeaters” which boost signal levels over long distances. It follows that any submarine cable system using submerged optoelectronic repeaters cannot be considered secure from interception and communications intelligence activity. The USS Parche was decommissioned in 2004, and her mission taken on by the [USS Jimmy Carter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Jimmy_Carter_%28SSN-23%29). Not surprisingly, I’m not finding any information online regarding the current location of the Jimmy Carter, or her sister boats. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/33 "2008-02-04T01:34:22Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] These are long haul high capacity data links. What do you suppose needs to be tapped exactly? Most of this internet traffic runs in the clear. If they are using encryption…well, then it’s encrypted. Regardless if you were going to attempt to capture the data streams the bottom of the ocean isn’t exactly necessary to do so. You could tap in at any of the peering sites much easier. Hell, if I wanted to do the research and find out where the border routers were between the ISP peers I could probably tap the traffic (for a few seconds before it overwhelmed my systems) from HERE. They there is the why…WHY would the government want to tap in there? What would they gain? Think they will intercept sooper sekrit emails from AQ? And that they can only tap into those sooper sekrit emails from the bottom of the ocean? -XT [/QUOTE] I don’t know why you are being so facetious in dismissing this. Several people have pointed out that cutting the cable at one point would give you cover to tap it in another without detection. As to your childish “sooper sekrit” emails, the U.S. is monitoring all networks it has access to, i.e. American controlled networks. The internet is the most secure and easiest way for Al Qaeda and others to communicate. I’m sure our intelligence agencies would love to have the ability to mine all internet traffic traveling in or out of the ME. [QUOTE=Sam Stone] It wouldn’t have to be the U.S. or the IDF doing this. You can’t rule out Russians, Chinese, France, or really any economic power with the ability to do it and interests in the region. Since we don’t know why it was done (if it is in fact not just a serious of coincidences), we can’t really guess who could have been behind it. [/quote] If someone is really tapping this lines, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s the U.S. or Israel. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/34 "2008-02-04T04:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=treis] I don’t know why you are being so facetious in dismissing this. Several people have pointed out that cutting the cable at one point would give you cover to tap it in another without detection. As to your childish “sooper sekrit” emails, the U.S. is monitoring all networks it has access to, i.e. American controlled networks. The internet is the most secure and easiest way for Al Qaeda and others to communicate. I’m sure our intelligence agencies would love to have the ability to mine all internet traffic traveling in or out of the ME. [/QUOTE] Yeah…I know. I’m a network engineer. The point is that the US gubberment doesn’t need to cut the cables and put in a wire tap on the bottom of the ocean to do all that stuff. You don’t have to be in the layer 1 link to capture traffic, ehe? The problem isn’t tapping in…it’s the volume of data you need to sift through, even data in the clear. You really think you need to tap the links to sniff the traffic?? [QUOTE=treis] If someone is really tapping this lines, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s the U.S. or Israel. [/QUOTE] :dubious: If someone actually cut these cables in order to put in a sooper sekrit wire tap it’s nearly 100% chance that it was neither the US nor Israel…who wouldn’t need to do that in order to sniff that traffic. IF someone did it I would expect it to be someone with a lot less sophisticated cyber capabilities and team. Personally, IF some cut the cable IMHO their goal was to disrupt the traffic and cause chaos. That is the mostly like Occam’s Razor type explanation. If you want to persist in a CT about the NSA or CIA or some other shadowy organization in the US gubberment cutting several cables at once to put in a tap that they don’t need…well, that is your look out. -XT ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/35 "2008-02-04T04:22:29Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] IF some cut the cable IMHO their goal was to disrupt the traffic and cause chaos. That is the mostly like Occam’s Razor type explanation. [/QUOTE] Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/36 "2008-02-04T04:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Yeah…I know. I’m a network engineer. The point is that the US gubberment doesn’t need to cut the cables and put in a wire tap on the bottom of the ocean to do all that stuff. You don’t have to be in the layer 1 link to capture traffic, ehe? The problem isn’t tapping in…it’s the volume of data you need to sift through, even data in the clear. You really think you need to tap the links to sniff the traffic?? [/quote] Ok you are going to have to fight my ignorance here. How could the U.S. capture the traffic going across these cables? [QUOTE=xtisme] :dubious: If someone actually cut these cables in order to put in a sooper sekrit wire tap it’s nearly 100% chance that it was neither the US nor Israel…who wouldn’t need to do that in order to sniff that traffic. IF someone did it I would expect it to be someone with a lot less sophisticated cyber capabilities and team. Personally, IF some cut the cable IMHO their goal was to disrupt the traffic and cause chaos. That is the mostly like Occam’s Razor type explanation. If you want to persist in a CT about the NSA or CIA or some other shadowy organization in the US gubberment cutting several cables at once to put in a tap that they don’t need…well, that is your look out. -XT [/QUOTE] Who do you think cut these cables? Egypt says that there were no ships in the area, so if they were cut it would have to have been done by sub. No terrorist organization has submarines, and even if they did I would be shocked if they could get into the Mediterranean without detection. You can say the same thing for Iran, and besides, what do they gain by cutting off their own internet for two weeks? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/37 "2008-02-04T05:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=treis] If someone is really tapping this lines, there’s a 99.9% chance it’s the U.S. or Israel. [/QUOTE] Why would you say that? Russia has all kinds of interests in the region. As does France. They both have worries about Islamic terrorism. They have more economic ties to the region than the U.S. does. Russia has recently shown itself to be more than willing to engage in things like internet sabotage. And I wouldn’t rule out al-Qaida. No, they don’t have the ability to install a tap, but would they gain from economic instability in the region? How hard would it be to cut those lines? I really have no idea. It sounds like it might be beyond their capabilities, but I’m not sure. It could also be someone like Hezbollah, or one of any number of factions in the middle east, including some militaries - like Egypt’s, which has already shown its willingness to go ‘rogue’ on the waters of the region and act without the permission of the state. **xtisme** : How certain are you of what kind of traffic is on those lines? Perhaps there voice channels and video channels and other interesting stuff that’s not internet traffic. If it’s optical, and it’s been optical from the source to the destination, then the only way to sniff it is to physically splice the cable, so far as I know. But really, this is all rampant speculation. None of us really has a clue what’s going on. So far it all looks like big mystery. . ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/38 "2008-02-04T05:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] Why would you say that? Russia has all kinds of interests in the region. As does France. They both have worries about Islamic terrorism. They have more economic ties to the region than the U.S. does. Russia has recently shown itself to be more than willing to engage in things like internet sabotage. [/quote] Russia and France have been pretty buddy buddy with Iran and Syria, while the United States invaded one country in the region, and is rattling sabers at another. Russia and France aren’t anywhere as concerned as the U.S. is about Islamic terrorist or Iran getting nukes. Hell, Russia is selling a nuclear reactor to Iran. For Russia to do this, they would have had to get a submarine into the Mediterranean and the Persian gulf without being detected. Something that I seriously doubt is possible. [QUOTE=Sam Stone] And I wouldn’t rule out al-Qaida. No, they don’t have the ability to install a tap, but would they gain from economic instability in the region? How hard would it be to cut those lines? I really have no idea. It sounds like it might be beyond their capabilities, but I’m not sure. [/quote] These cut cables haven’t really had any adverse effect on the economies in the region. Besides, in order for Al Qaeda to cut these cables they would need at minimum a ship, and much more likely a submarine given Egypt’s announcement. I don’t think they have either. [QUOTE=Sam Stone] It could also be someone like Hezbollah, or one of any number of factions in the middle east, including some militaries - like Egypt’s, which has already shown its willingness to go ‘rogue’ on the waters of the region and act without the permission of the state. [/quote] The fact that some of the cables cut were in the Persian Gulf pretty much rules these two out. You’re really reaching here. The U.S. is the sole superpower left, and they are the ones driving the coalition against Iran. If these cables were really cut for intelligence, it’s going to be the U.S. that is behind it. I realize that we are in tin hat territory here, and I’m not usually a conspiracy guy. But 4 cables happening to go down in a short period of time and the fact that they service a volatile region is pinging on my implausibility meter. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/39 "2008-02-04T05:32:55Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] These are long haul high capacity data links. What do you suppose needs to be tapped exactly? Most of this internet traffic runs in the clear. If they are using encryption…well, then it’s encrypted. Regardless if you were going to attempt to capture the data streams the bottom of the ocean isn’t exactly necessary to do so. [/quote] As I said, there’s no reason to assume that any tap is being installed below water. [QUOTE=xtisme] They there is the why…WHY would the government want to tap in there? [/quote] Because they want to listen in one **everyone**. [QUOTE=xtisme] What would they gain? Think they will intercept sooper sekrit emails from AQ? And that they can only tap into those sooper sekrit emails from the bottom of the ocean? [/QUOTE] What makes you think they care about Al Qaeda ? More likely, they’d be doing keyword searches to detect things like liberals, atheists, environmentalists, and Democrats, or those who support them. If American; another country would look for another set of political enemies. And I find apparent beliefs about the regard our government has for people’s privacy amusing. They **already** spy on our own people. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2008, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923/40 "2008-02-04T05:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=treis] You’re really reaching here. The U.S. is the sole superpower left, and they are the ones driving the coalition against Iran. If these cables were really cut for intelligence, it’s going to be the U.S. that is behind it. I realize that we are in tin hat territory here, and I’m not usually a conspiracy guy. But 4 cables happening to go down in a short period of time and the fact that they service a volatile region is pinging on my implausibility meter. [/QUOTE] I actually don’t disagree with you. If the cables were cut intentionally, I’d probably put good money on U.S. intelligence being the culprit. It’s just that my level of certainty isn’t anywhere the 99% that you have that the U.S. would be involved. There are a few big players on the world stage who could do this, and the U.S. is only one of them. And Russia has recently shown its willingness to play hardball. But really, it’s all just speculation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/3-undersea-cables-cut-in-3-days-coincidence-or-prelude-to-some-action/435923.md?page=3)