SurveillanceWhite House to curb NSA monitoring of some allies' leaders
It appears that President Obama will soon instruct the NSA to stop eavesdropping on leaders of close U.S. allies. It now emerges that both the president and Congress’s intelligence committees were kept in the dark about this aspect of the NSA surveillance program. Yesterday’s indication by the White House that it moving toward banning the NSA from eavesdropping on some foreign leaders is a historic change in the practices of an agency which has enjoyed unlimited and unfettered – and, it now appears, unsupervised – freedom of action outside the borders of the United States. The move is similar to, if more complicated than, the limits imposed on the CIA in the mid-1970s. Security experts note, though, that prohibiting the NSA from eavesdropping on some foreign leaders would be more complicated and potentially more damaging to U.S. interests than the prohibitions imposed on the CIA more than three decades ago.
It appears that President Obama will soon instruct the NSA to stop eavesdropping on leaders of close U.S. allies, the New York Times reports.
It now emerges that both the president and Congress’s intelligence committees were kept in the dark about this aspect of the NSA surveillance program, a fact which yesterday has led a staunch supporter of the NSA, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California), chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to issue an unusually – for her — pointed rebuke of the agency: “I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or e-mails of friendly presidents and prime ministers.” Feinstein said, adding that her committee would begin a “major review of all intelligence collection programs.”
“She believes the committee was not adequately briefed on the details of these programs, and she’s frustrated,” a committee staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times. “In her mind, there were salient omissions.”
The review that Feinstein announced would be “a major undertaking,” the staff member said.
The White House said it was reviewing the issue. “We have already made some decisions through this process and expect to make more,” said a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, Caitlin Hayden, adding that the review would be completed in December.
The Times notes that the administration will reserve the right to continue collecting intelligence in friendly countries. This data will be related to criminal activity, potential terrorist threats, and the proliferation of unconventional weapons, several officials told the paper. The administration would also be leaving itself operational freedom in the event of a foreign leader of an ally who turned hostile or whose actions posed a threat to the United States.
The United States already has an agreement, known as the Five Eyes agreement, with four countries – the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – which limits the scope of spying each of the five countries can engage in when it comes to the four other members to the agreement.
The United States has so far resisted efforts by other countries to join the agreement, but it now appears that Germany may be allowed to become a member.
U.S. intelligence leaders say that with most close allies, Germany among them, the United States already has not only close cooperative intelligence relationship, but also tacit understanding about what is allowed and what is not.
