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NSA Monitored Calls of 35 World Leaders
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "The Guardian reports that the NSA monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another U.S. government department. According to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA encourages senior officials in its 'customer' departments, such the White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their 'Rolodexes' so the agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. The NSA memo dated October 2006 that was obtained by the Guardian suggests that such surveillance was not isolated, as the agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world leaders – and even asks for the assistance of other U.S. officials to do so. However, the memo acknowledges that eavesdropping on the numbers had produced 'little reportable intelligence.' At the daily briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Jay Carney again refused to answer repeated questions about whether the U.S. had spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's calls in the past."
Makes you wonder which country is the real threat in this world.
Summation 2
No, this is pretty much normal spying. If you had a spy agency and didn't monitor other nations for strategic advantage, you'd wonder what the hell they were doing. I'm not saying it's unreasonable to be opposed, because moral objections are best objections, just that pretending it's bad spycraft is silly.
The NSA is suppose to spy on other countries.
I'd prefer it if they spied on countries that are actively hostile towards us, if they're going to spy at all. No, spying to collect evidence is not okay (or else spying on citizens would also be okay).
This apologist nonsense is not surprising, but it is an absolute eyesore.
Ignorance is a choice
He did it all to himself.
"The NSA memo dated October 2006"
Seems to me it is just another case of Obama getting blamed for the actions of the Bush Administration.
It just confirms they're doing an effective job
Despite breaking the law, disregarding the constitution and making secret laws using a secret court which the people who they serve have no right to access? You may want to do a little more research on how the NSA is 'doing an effective job'
The real rarity in government is elected officials actually serving with an interest in the people.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Their job is not to get caught, especially when spying on allies ... they're not doing an effective job.
Sure there was. It has embarrased the Obama administration, and destroyed his credibility with American allies.
No, no, no, no and no.
This is all just a bunch of political bullshit people. There are a wide variety of world leaders being monitored by a wide variety of governments, and the politicians and world leaders are all perfectly aware of this fact.
All these stories are, is various politicians jumping on various iterations of the NSA story for their own political purposes. They are playing off anti-US sentiment among their populaces to further their own agendas. Which is fine, that's how politics works, but stop acting like this is something unique to the US because it's not.
Other people might be easily manipulated, overly emotional idiots, that doesn't mean you have to be one as well.
Did Obama do anything to stop the spying after taking office?
Well, then isn't Obama just as guilty as Bush on this issue?
Can you please spy on my government and tell me what the hell they're up to these days? I have no clue, and they're certainly not telling.
Thanks,
An American
It has embarrased the Obama administration, and destroyed his credibility with American allies.
I am afraid that much more had been destroyed than Obama's personal reputation.
I am afraid that the reputation of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA had been severely destroyed because of what Obama administration has done.
First, it was Brazil. Then, France. Followed by Mexico, and then Germany.
And when Angela Merkel angrily called up Obama regarding matter, you know what Obama did ?
THAT GUY DENIED EVERYTHING !!
Obama was caught with his hands in the cookie jar and yet he acted just like a little kid telling bold face lies.
As an American, I rather my president comes clean, admitting his faults, remedy the mistakes, than telling seriously inane bold face lies.
Obama seemed to forget that he is THE POTUS - and as the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, his category denial has shamed the nation of the United States of America.
I am sure, by now, no government in the world would ever trust the President of the United States, nor the nation of the United States of America.
In other words, Obama has shamed all of us, the Americans !!
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
No, he quite distinctly had 2 points.
1. Hypocrisy
2. Free-slinging of nukes as a foreign policy.
#2 is hyperbole, but there's nothing wrong with identifying hyperbole and asking for a more restrained perspective.
It depends on if he knew about it. If he did then he's obviosly responsible. If he didn't then that's of course also bad. Either way is not good for him.
Guess what, the U.S. has spy agencies and their job is to spy. It just confirms they're doing an effective job, which is rare in government.
Guess what, the U.S has armed forces and their job is to blow stuff up. That does not mean that it's a good idea to have them blow up America's allies. I know everybody spies on everybody else but when you are treating your allies like enemies it's time to re-examine which is more important to you, your alliances or knowing what the president of France eats for breakfast or where the chancellor of Germany buys her strudel. As for doing their job, I fail to see how US intelligence can be said to be doing its job in view of their complete inability to keep a lid on their operations and keep in mind that we haven't even begun to take into account the miserable US intelligence failures that led to the Iraq war which must surely lead one to lower the competence rating of the US intelligence services still further.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
http://www.france24.com/en/20131024-nsa-france-spying-squarcini-dcri-hollande-ayrault-merkel-usa-obama
And the french DSGE has been doing Economic INtelligence (Industrial secrets) for decades. For example in 1991 they were caught bugging all the seats in Air France jets.
Mon Du, Gambling at Ricks!
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
So, the rest of the world has your permission to start spying on US citizens then?
I sincerely hope that comes true for you.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
... should you eat shit as well ?
This is all just a bunch of political bullshit people. There are a wide variety of world leaders being monitored by a wide variety of governments
I am getting VERY FUCKING TIRED of listening to this asinine excuse !
Just because the whole world is eating shit, would you eat shit too ?
The world's government may be tapping each others, but they are NOT caught in the action.
America, on the other hand, did.
Why can't Obama just admit what happened, and then proceed with action to remedy the problem, instead of issuing a CATEGORY DENIAL to everything ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
From http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/10/us-denies-tapping-merkel-mobile-phone-20131023185133142198.html ---
US President Barack Obama had assured German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the US is not monitoring her communications, according to the White House spokesman.
From http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24647268
The White House said President Obama had told Chancellor Merkel the US was not snooping on her communications.
"The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Wednesday.
From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/23/merkel-phone-tapped_n_4150812.html
For its part, the White House denied that the U.S. is listening in on Merkel's phone calls now.
"The president assured the chancellor that the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The United States greatly values our close cooperation with Germany on a broad range of shared security challenges."
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I'd say that Germany wanting their own internet now, joining the BRICS countries to do so is something of value.
It's time that the world realizes that internet is incompatible with having a bully with power over it.
"Guess what, the U.S. has spy agencies and their job is to spy. It just confirms they're doing an effective job, which is rare in government."
You guys who say this have to realize that all of this belligerent surveillance winds up targeted squarely at the heads of American citizens at home. The security apparatus does have one quasi-legitimate problem with their current mission -- If the idea is to tap all of the world's communications all the time, on the Internet, packets are not tagged with geographic or political-state indicators. So the only solution, really, is to suck up every packet, American and non-American alike, which is what they are now doing.
With Internet packet switching, the only way for Americans to expect communication privacy rights is for everyone in the world to have communication privacy rights. Surveilling everyone means surveilling all Americans, all the time. Do you really want that?
We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
Do you think Mitt Romney or John McCain would have stopped these programs? If so you I would say you are confused. Otherwise, what is your point?
I liked George Bush. Both irresponsible and incompetent. But he had some personality.
Really? So if your company SysAdmin is secretly spying on your email, it's the CEO's fault? Even though the SysAdmin is the one with the technical knowledge to both implement and hide the spying?
Not saying that Obama is innocent, but not knowing doesn't make him incompetent. It might just mean that the NSA are good at covering up.
If you want to fault him for something, fault him stepping on those who blow the whistle on these sort of activities, instead of commending them like he should.