Movie buffs and conspiracy theorists will immediately recognize this scenario. Apparently European Parliament officials are heading home earlier than expected as a result of U.S. officials declining to meet with them. These “U.S. Officials” read like a who’s who of cloak and dagger — the CIA, NSA, FBI, State Department, Members of Congress, the Pentagon and more. The nuts and bolts of it surround Echelon, a global security monitoring system set up at the end of the cold war. Privacy advocates have called Echelon a “mammoth” spy system, which is sponsored by the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Concerns have arisen over the fact that the system is intercepting billions of emails, telephone calls and faxes around the globe. Much more information is available in a NewsFactor report.