From The International Herald Tribune: Fallout builds over scope of U.S. spying efforts BY STEVEN ERLANGER PARIS — The most recent revelations of the enormous scale of spying by the United States on its allies threatened on Monday to derail negotiations over a free trade agreement with Europe, sowed increasing disillusionment with President Barack Obama in European capitals and heightened concerns that the American intelligence-gathering apparatus has become too big for careful oversight. European lawmakers across the political spectrum warned of a loss of confidence in the Obama administration that would make a free trade deal difficult. While some of the comments were political, even cynical from leaders of countries that also spy with great energy against their allies, much of the anger was also genuine, and it was accompanied by fresh demands for explanations. Daniel Cohn-Bendit, the Green Party floor leader, spoke for many when he said that the European Union ‘‘must immediately suspend negotiations with the U.S. over a free trade agreement.’’ First, he said, ‘‘we need a deal on data protection so that something like that never happens again.’’ Some of the harshest language came from President François Hollande of France, who said during a visit in northwestern France that ‘‘we cannot accept this kind of behavior between partners and allies.’’ He said the spying should ‘‘immediately stop.’’ Mr. Hollande suggested that talks on a new trans-Atlantic trade pact, scheduled to start next week, should be delayed until questions over the spying issue were resolved and confidence restored. ‘‘We can only have negotiations, transactions, in all areas once we have obtained these guarantees for France, but that goes for the whole European Union, and I would say for all partners of the United States,’’ he said. Terrorism is real and ‘‘there are systems that have to be checked, especially to fight terrorism, but I don’t think that it is in our embassies or in the European Union that this threat exists.’’ France has been a critic of the proposed free-trade deal, trying to ensure that its key interests, which include domestic production of films and videos and agriculture, are protected. And France is also well-known as having a sophisticated, well-funded intelligence system that also spies on allies and enemies to protect French national and commercial interests. ‘‘France is a cynical country,’’ said François Heisbourg, a defense expert. ‘‘We all spy, but the difference here is the scale — up to 60 million connections in Germany in a day!’’ That spies go ‘‘spearfishing’’ after particular targets is one thing, he said. ‘‘But no one has understood that our societies were being spied on so massively — this isn’t spearfishing but trawling with a big, big net. That’s the real shocker.’’ What also troubles people is the sense that the United States, ‘‘having unlimited means, means they use them because they exist, and this speaks poorly of checks and balances in the system.’’ Mr. Heisbourg wondered ‘‘if Obama thought he was telling the truth in the Berlin speech,’’ since ‘‘spying on the E.U. was particularly revealing.’’ Fleur Pellerin, France’s minister for the digital economy, said that what shocked her was ‘‘generalized surveillance of populations — that’s an affair completely different from espionage, it’s much more serious.’’ Camille Grand, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, said that the revelations fed into ‘‘a growing disappointment with Obama in Europe’’ that is fed on the drone program and Guantanamo Bay. For allied intelligence services to spy on one another is not new, he said, especially in trade negotiations and commercial dealings. ‘‘But it’s complicated the view of Obama, to realize he’s a rather standard U.S. president, using all the tools at his disposal.’’ Mr. Obama has told Americans that Prism is not aimed at them, only at foreigners, Mr. Grand said. ‘‘Then we find out that policy doesn’t apply to America’s allies. It creates a lot of skepticism.’’ While France, Germany and other allies are also spying, there is a large imbalance in terms of technical means, which adds to the discomfort. James Bamford, the author of a book about the N.S.A., ‘‘The Puzzle Palace,’’ said that the latest technology gives the United States a huge qualitative advantage over its partners. ‘‘The difference is, you’re comparing eavesdropping with a nuclear weapon to eavesdropping with a cannon,’’ he said. ‘‘These countries don’t have anywhere near the capacity that the N.S.A. does in terms of their capacity to do to us what we do to them.’’ That can confer an immense edge, he said, adding, ‘‘It’s the equivalent of going to a poker game and wanting to know what everyone’s hand is before you place your bet.’’ Mr. Bamford, like others, said that Washington’s interest in Germany was understandable, both because of its political and economic clout and the fact that the Sept. 11 terror plot was hatched in Harburg, near Hamburg. The reaction was particularly angry in Germany, with its history of Nazism and the East German Stasi, made more acute by the revelation that a large part of the American interception efforts were aimed at that country — capturing up to half a billion communications every month in a country of only 82 million people. Mr. Obama was just in Berlin on June 19, giving a speech in which he explained that the U.S. Prism program of metadata collection was about counter-terrorism in the interests of all allies. But the new revelations from Edward J. Snowden, appearing on Sunday in Der Spiegel Online and in The Guardian newspaper, indicated that U.S. spying and data collection included the European Union offices in Brussels and Washington, which struck many as unlikely places to find terrorists. Elmar Brok, an outspoken German who chairs the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said that ‘‘the spying has reached dimensions that I did not think were possible for a democratic country.’’ He said the United States has ‘‘lost all balance — George Orwell is nothing by comparison.’’ Michael Grosse-Brömer, parliamentary president for the ruling conservative bloc, warned that if the reports proved true, "it would be sufficient to shatter mutual trust and to damage the close, trusting trans-Atlantic relationship.’’ Mr. Obama said in Tanzania that he had directed his staff to examine the latest reports regarding spying on United States allies. ‘‘We will take a look at this article, figure out what they may or may not be talking about and then we’ll communicate with our allies appropriately,’’ Mr. Obama said. He said of every intelligence service: ‘‘Here’s one thing that they’re going to be doing: they’re going to be trying to understand the world better and what’s going on in world capitals around the world, from sources that aren’t available through The New York Times or NBC News.’’ ‘‘If that weren’t the case, then there’d be no use for an intelligence service,’’ he said, adding that ‘‘I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders. That’s how intelligence services operate.’’ In Brunei, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said similarly that ‘‘every country in the world that is engaged in international affairs, of national security, undertakes lots of activities to protect its national security and all kinds of information contributes to that.’’ Arnaud Danjean, a member of the European Parliament and a former intelligence officer, said that Europeans should not be so naïve. ‘‘This European contest to be the most outraged about U.S. spying is a bit pathetic,’’ he wrote on Twitter. ‘‘As if all these officials lived in the land of the Care Bears.’’ Reporting was contributed by Brian Knowlton from Washington; Michael D. Shear from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Melissa Eddy from Berlin; and Rick Gladstone from New York. ◼ Get the best global news and analysis direct to your device – download the IHT apps for free today! For iPad: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404757420?mt=8 For iPhone: itunes.apple/us/app/international-herald-tribune/id404764212?mt=8
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 00:52:46 +0000
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