pin:231B0D40»» White House under pressure on #NSA monitoring of German chancellor: Administration reported to be distancing itself from agency as press in Germany questions how much #BarackObama knew The White House was under intense pressure on Sunday to reveal the extent to which President Barack Obama knew about or even authorised US surveillance operations targeting the leaders of allied countries. The US is facing a full-scale diplomatic crisis over the disclosure that the National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of at least 35 world leaders, including the German chancellor, #AngelaMerkel. In Germany, Der Spiegel reported that the NSAs Special Collection Service (SCS) had listed Merkels phone number since 2002. The number was still on the list – marked as GE Chancellor Merkel – weeks before Obama visited Berlin in June, raising the possibility that the German leader had been under surveillance for more than a decade. In an SCS document cited by the magazine, the agency said it had a not legally registered spying branch in the US embassy in Berlin, the exposure of which would lead to grave damage for the relations of the United States to another government. The White House refused to comment on that report – or others that emerged in Germany overnight, raising questions about how much Obama personally knew about the spy operation. Caitlin Hayden, the White Houses national security council spokeswoman, told the Guardian: We are not going to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity. The German tabloid Bild reported that Obama was personally informed about US surveillance against Merkel by the director of the NSA, Keith Alexander, in 2010, and allowed the operation to continue. The newspaper cited a secret intelligence employee who is familiar with the NSA operation against Merkel. The Bild article also claimed that intelligence gathered by US spies based in Berlin was not channelled to NSA headquarters in Forte Meade, Maryland, but directly to the White House. The newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported that when Obama spoke to Merkel over the phone on Wednesday, he assured the German leader he had not previously known her phone had been monitored. A delegation of German intelligence officials are due to arrive in the US to meet counterparts in the coming days. They are expected to demand clarity on the nature and scope of NSA activities in their country. A greater focus However in Washington, the first signs are emerging that Obamas administration may seek to distance itself from the NSA, concluding that the spy-agency has strayed beyond its remit and overreached. Many senior figures in Congress have already said the NSA failed to properly inform them of the nature and scope of its surveillance activities. Lisa Monaco, a homeland security advisor to the White House, called on Friday for a greater focus to ensure the US was balancing security needs with the privacy concerns all people share. Her op-ed piece in USA Today was widely interpreted as a signal of growing concern within the administration. Monaco wrote: We want to ensure we are collecting information because we need it and not just because we can. In August, announcing a review of US intelligence activities in the aftermath of the first disclosures based on documents leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, Obama gave the impression that the NSA was solely focused on counter-terrorism measures. I dont have an interest and the people at the NSA dont have an interest in doing anything other than making sure that where we can prevent a terrorist attack, where we can get information ahead of time, that were able to carry out that critical task, he said. We do not have an interest in doing anything other than that. The Spiegel report said the NSAs Berlin-based surveillance hub, adjacent to the Brandenberg gate, was one of several in Europe, citing a 2010 document that referred to branches existing in about 80 locations across the world, including Paris, Madrid, Rome, Prague, Geneva and Frankfurt. The article said it was not clear whether the monitoring of Merkels phone included actual telephone conversations or was restricted to call data, but raised the question over whether a surveillance operation, which began three years before she became chancellor, was initially intended to gather intelligence ahead of the Iraq War, which Germany opposed. Merkel, then in opposition, was critical of Germanys anti-war stance. Bild reported that the then-chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, was also the target of surveillance, at the behest of the George Bush administration. A new dimension Revelations about the NSA monitoring foreign leaders – particularly allies – have blown open a dimension of the NSA scandal which, until now, has proven relatively uncontroversial in the US: surveillance conducted abroad. The US debate over NSA surveillance has focused almost exclusively on operations that may involve US citizens – such as a program to collect the phone records of millions of Americans. Until the recent revelations, there was virtually no concern raised over surveillance involving foreign citizens, even among vocal critics of the NSA on Capitol Hill. Legislation to reform the NSA, which is being introduced in both houses of Congress this week, focuses almost entirely upon surveillance activities that might involve US citizens. Few in Washington are challenging the administrations claim that all nations engage in similar forms of espionage. However diplomatic sources have told the Guardian that the White Houses declarations that its practices do not differ from those employed by all nations are deeply misleading. The sources said that while the US, Russia, China, Britain and France are well-known to engage in aggressive cyber espionage, including against allies, many other countries do not have anywhere near the same surveillance infrastructure – and concentrate their more limited resources on counter-terrorism and serious crime. The revelations about NSA activity in Germany were discussed on the US Sunday morning political talkshows. Speaking on Meet the Press, the Republican Darrell Issa, the chairman of the House oversight and government reform committee was asked if he thought Obama had known about the surveillance of Merkels phone. He said: Remember, the NSA works for the president. Through his national security advisers he knew or should have known. Asked about the propriety of such surveillance, Issa answered: If what you do in Germany helps the Germans, then fine. But you dont spy on a head of state. Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of the House intelligence committee, was more bullish in defending surveillance practices, criticising press coverage of the latest NSA revelations and arguing that Europeans were unaware of the extent of surveillance conducted by their own governments and had been misled by incorrect media reports about the nature of NSA activities. He told CNN recent reports in France about the NSAs monitoring of millions of phone calls in the country were 100% wrong. I would argue by the way, if the French citizens knew exactly what that was about, they would be applauding and popping champagne corks, he said. Its a good thing – it keeps the French safe. Going further, Rogers claimed that the emergence of fascism in Europe in the early 20th century could be partly explained by a conscious decision by the US not to monitor its allies. We said: Were not going to do any kinds of those things, that would not be appropriate, he said. Look what happened in the 30s: the rise of fascism, the rise of communism, the rise of imperialism. We didnt see any of it. And it resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people. Rogers added: Remember: sometimes our friends have relationships with our adversaries. * NSA * #TheNSAfiles * #Obamaadministration * Barack Obama * Germany * Angela Merkel * #USforeignpolicy * #USnationalsecurity * #USpolitics * Republicans * Democrats * #USCongress * Surveillance * Espionage Paul LewisPhilip Oltermann theguardian © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds @OfficialMGN @officialMGN
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 17:00:51 +0000
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