Carta Maior: Snowden's consulting firm was FHC's right-hand man.

247 – The left-wing publication Major Card It claims that the FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) government used the services of Booz-Allen, where spy Edward Snowden worked, for strategic consulting at the federal level. Read more:

The company owned by spy Snowden was a key consultant for the FHC government.

During Fernando Henrique Cardoso's administration, Booz-Allen, the firm where spy Edward Snowden worked, was responsible for strategic consulting projects contracted by the federal government. These included "Brasil em Ação" (FHC's first term) and "Avança Brasil" (FHC's second term), among others, such as those related to privatization programs (sanitation was one of them) and the restructuring of the national financial system.

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's swift reaction to allegations that the U.S. maintained a spy base in the country during his administration raises questions and suggests that action should be taken.

It is unlikely that these issues will be addressed without a sovereign decision from the Brazilian legislature to establish a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate the web of secrecy and dissimulation in which the matter may die.

Among the former president's numerous qualities, one is not love for national sovereignty.

Thus, the defensive tone of the note he issued on Facebook on the 8th stands out, hours after the newspaper "O Globo" revealed that, at least until 2002, Brasília hosted one of the espionage stations where NSA employees and CIA agents worked together.

"I never knew of any CIA espionage during my administration, mainly because I could only know if it was done with the government's own knowledge, which was not the case. Otherwise, if such activities existed, they were carried out, as in all espionage, outside the law. It is up to the Brazilian government, once the allegations are investigated, to formally protest the invasion of sovereignty and prevent the violation of rights from occurring...", defended Fernando Henrique.

The newspaper claims to have had access to NSA documents, leaked by former agent Edward Snowden, who worked as an IT specialist for the CIA for four years, which show that the federal capital was part of a pool of 16 espionage bases for collecting data from a global network.

Another set of documents, according to the same newspaper, with a more recent date (September 2010), would provide evidence that the Brazilian embassy in Washington and the country's mission to the United Nations in New York were wiretapped at some point.

Espionage and wiretapping were not exactly an outlier in the former president's administration.

During the privatization of the Telebrás system, wiretaps at BNDES (Brazilian Development Bank) captured conversations between Luiz Carlos Mendonça de Barros, then Minister of Communications, and André Lara Resende, then president of BNDES, orchestrating Previ's (a pension fund) support to benefit the Opportunity bank consortium – which had as one of its owners the economist Pérsio Arida, a friend of Mendonça de Barros and Lara Resende.

FHC himself was recorded authorizing the use of his name to pressure the pension fund for Banco do Brasil employees.

In another tangled web of wires, in 1997, recordings revealed that congressmen Ronivon Santiago and João Maia, from the PFL party in Acre, received R$ 200 to vote in favor of the reelection amendment, which would have allowed FHC a second term.

Then, as now, the politician assured that he was completely unaware of the case, which became known as 'the purchase of reelection'.

The shadows of the past and those of the present suggest that establishing a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) is the most appropriate precautionary measure to confront the heavy-handed game of vested interests that will attempt to shield the country's access to what lies on the other side of the door ajar, left by the spy Snowden.

The Workers' Party (PT) has an obligation to take the initiative to convene it.

But above all, the PSDB should show full interest in its establishment.

It would sound strange, to say the least, if he didn't do so in light of what former President Fernando Henrique defined as an egregious illegality: "If activities of this type existed, they were carried out, as in all espionage, outside the law..."

Congress cannot evade the undeniable fact: a CIA spy base operated on Brazilian soil until at least 2002.

Society has the right to know what it monitored and for what purposes.

There are other questions of significant national interest that demand an answer.

Did the espionage pool merely collect data within the country, or did it also process, manipulate, and distribute information, real or false, whose disclosure served interests other than national sovereignty?

Did he do what he did completely clandestinely and illegally? Or did he have internal support from private or official sources, or even from random authorities?

Who, other than a Parliamentary Committee, would have the access and authority to answer these questions of evident political relevance in these times?

All progressive media should contribute to investigations of this nature, of supra-partisan interest, with which Congress would give satisfaction to the country after the slow and hesitant initial reaction from the Presidential Palace and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanded even by FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso).

For example: reporter Geneton Moraes Neto has just published a story on G1 (a website of the Globo network) with the following title: "The day Minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso discovered what 'espionage' is: US Secretary of State knew more about Brazilian military secrets than he did" (http://g1.globo.com/platb/geneton/).

The article, which is worth reading, refers to a previous interview in which FHC (Fernando Henrique Cardoso) comments on his lack of knowledge about classified information in the country held by a high-ranking member of the US government.

The toucan displays a disconcerting nonchalance in the face of absurdity.

He now comments with the same nonchalance about his complete lack of knowledge regarding CIA operations during his administration.

Being the last to know, in the case cited by Geneton, is perhaps less serious than not seeking, from now on, to find out about certain coincidences, let's say for the time being.

There are questions that cry out for clarification.

Booz-Allen, the company that coordinated the CIA's wiretapping operations and where Snowden worked, is one of the world's largest consulting firms.

During the FHC administration, she was responsible for strategic consulting services contracted by the federal government.

This includes programs ranging from "Brasil em Ação" (FHC's first government) to "Avança Brasil" (FHC's second government), and others, such as privatization programs (sanitation was one of them) and the restructuring of the national financial system.

All projects financed by BNDES. Some examples:

- Characterization of the National Development Axes. Brazil in Action Program. BNDES. FIPE/BOOZ-ALLEN Consortium. 1998;

Alternatives for the Strategic Reorientation of the Set of Federal Public Financial Institutions.

Basic Sanitation and Urban Transportation Report. FIPE/BOOZ-ALLEN & Hamilton Consortium. BNDES/Ministry of Finance. São Paulo. 2000

It's worth repeating: the same umbrella company for the espionage system that operated in Brazil until 2002, Booz Allen, was the intellectual mentor of a series of studies and reports, commissioned by the PSDB government, to fuel a strategy of alignment ('carnal', as Menem would say) of Brazil with the US economy.

More details about this 'interactive boost' can be obtained here.