Posted on 10/24/2013 11:48:25 AM PDT by Brad from Tennessee
The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US government department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The confidential memo reveals that 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 document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately "tasked" for monitoring by the NSA.
The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.
After Merkel's allegations became public, White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that said the US "is not monitoring and will not monitor" the German chancellor's communications. But that failed to quell the row, as officials in Berlin quickly pointed out that the US did not deny monitoring the phone in the past.
The NSA memo 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 US officials to do so.
The memo, dated October 2006 and which was issued to staff in the agency's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), was titled "Customers Can Help SID Obtain Targetable Phone Numbers".
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Vlad Putin is using Ed Snowden’s thumb drive to very deftly take apart all of our alliances piece-by-piece.
There, fixed it.
If powerful leaders can’t trust the US government and Obama, why should comparitively little people? What treachery is he capable of against US...???
All part of the plan in correct. Isolate us, then cause an internal conflict. Watch what happens next.
But you’re probably correct also.
The NSA memo seen by the Guardian was written halfway through George W Bush's second term, when Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state and Donald Rumsfeld was in his final months as defence secretary.
So it begins, blame Bush for this questionable document. Who believes this document is real? Could it not have been recently created?
All part of the planned process.
From the thread titled "Poison Photo-Drop (Releasing photos endangers US lives)"
To: Bobkk47Before he is done I fully expect him to release the names addresses and phone numbers of anyone anywhere in the world who has ever provided any information to agency workers.
The damage to US intel will last multiple generations.
7 posted on 05/12/2009 9:32:33 AM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 113 of our national holiday from reality.)
yep.
Obama is doing a good enough job of that on his own.
This is not an issue we should be getting hot and bothered about. We should be outraged if U.S. intelligence services are NOT spying on every foreign leader on earth.
They for darn sure are trying to listen to us, and they already know or assume we are doing so to them. This is old news.
These 35 world leaders know exactly where the new NSA data center is too.
Oh well.
You know, as an American citizen, I have NO problem with our intelligence agencies spying on foreign government and officials,and would be ticked off if we weren’t. What I have a big problem with is DOMESTIC SPYING on American citizens INSIDE our country. That’s the issue, not the foreign stuff, which I could care less about.
I feel a certain degree of satisfaction that so many of these Euro weenies who went all out in the effusive support of Obama in 2008 , giving his campaign a strong PR boost in the world media , are now getting a thumb(drive) stuck in their eyes . Note to Euros : STAY OUT of U.S. elections....
The wholesale exodus of top military leaders is revealing.
With all due respect to our allies, why the sudden anal-retentive objections to the obvious intelligence gathering?
Citizens have a constitutional right to privacy if not an intrinsic right. Congress MUST stop violating this right — it must be held accountable.
I’m guessing the data build-up is part of a larger effort to establish a digital blueprint of language and behavior to help predict events that interest or concern the keepers and sponsors of the technology. While I believe this speculative effort is a good thing, I expect an equal or greater effort be made to ensure privacy.
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