White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say
Source: L.A. Times
WASHINGTON — The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.
Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies.
The resistance emerged as the White House said it would curtail foreign intelligence collection in some cases and two senior U.S. senators called for investigations of the practice.
France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden have all publicly complained about the NSA surveillance operations, which reportedly captured private cellphone conversations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, among other foreign leaders. On Monday, as Spain joined the protest, the fallout also spread to Capitol Hill....
The U.S. Embassy, right, sits near Germany's legislative buildings in Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel is among the leaders of U.S.-allied nations who have complained in recent days over reports of U.S. spying. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images / October 28, 2013)
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-spying-phones-20131029,0,3235295.story#axzz2j4s8Ea5v
= new reply since forum marked as read
Obama didn’t know about surveillance of U.S.-allied world leaders until summer, officials say
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-didnt-know-about-surveillance-of-us-allied-world-leaders-until-summer-officials-say/2013/10/28/0cbacefa-4009-11e3-a751-f032898f2dbc_story.html
Which group would you say has the most experience? I honestly don't think I can make the call.
...It is a sobering conclusion. At the time President Obama took office, many of his supporters expected a radical change in course on national security policy. This did not happen. For sure, limitations on some of the worst excesses were put in place, but there was no broad reversal. The secret programs of surveillance expanded and the other policies discussed above, on indefinite detention, treatment of whistleblowers, and executive prerogatives relative to Congress stayed in place or broke even more radically with tradition.
Full Article from
published - Sunday, 27 October 2013 13:43
http://truth-out.org/news/item/19647-who-buys-the-spies-the-hidden-corporate-cash-behind-americas-out-of-control-national-surveillance-state
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023937152
Here is the very first paragraph of that article.
The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.
The LA Times is tying pushback against Obama and his aides to "
t)he White House and State Department signed off" on this program. What I'm saying is because this spying has been going on since 2002 it had to be the Bush White House that approved this spying. Yes, I did ask if Obama renewed what Bush started but that is not part of the story, at least yet, and it is a potential problem. Note that these "intelligence officials" were specifically vague in which White House and State Department signed off on the surveillance targeting (spying); "high level eavesdropping" also is not the same thing as "friendly foreign leaders" and that reflects poorly on them. It also reflects poorly on the LA Times that they did not ask for clarification and instead allowed themselves to get possibly snookered by this crappy article. Sometimes it is more important to focus on what is not said rather than what is said and what is not said here speaks volumes. (The WSJ link is a subscription article so I could not read it).
I love that graphic which is what I was actually responding to.
- Next thing you know there's ketchup all over the place.
