European spy services shared phone data with US: NSA

[FarCenter]

AFP - European spy services have shared phone data with America's National Security Agency and media reports alleging otherwise are "completely false," the NSA's chief told lawmakers on Tuesday.

"To be perfectly clear, this is not information that we collected on European citizens," General Keith Alexander told lawmakers when asked about recent newspaper reports based on disclosures from intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

http://www.france24.com/en/20131029-european-spy-services-shared-phone-data-with-us-nsa

When spies start leaking on each other, they may all get wet.

[leftynyc]

1. That's not what Greenwald claims

In fact, he claims just the opposite.

[FarCenter]

2. NSA chief denies collecting millions of phone records on European citizens

Army Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, said reports to the contrary, based on revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, were “completely false.” He said European intelligence services collected phone records in war zones and other areas outside their borders and shared them with the NSA.

“This is not information that we collected on European citizens,” Alexander told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations.”

Alexander, appearing alongside James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, and two other top administration officials, made the comments in response to questions about news reports in Europe that the NSA collected more than 70 million French phone records in a one-month period late last year and early this year and intercepted more than 60 million phone calls in Spain during the same time frame.

The French and Spanish intelligence agencies have had extensive, long-running programs to share millions of phone records with the United States for counterterrorism purposes, according to current and former officials familiar with the effort.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/top-intelligence-officials-called-to-testify-on-nsa-surveillance-programs/2013/10/29/e9e9c250-40b7-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html