Report: Officials Say White House OK'd MONITORING Of World Leaders

[Segami]

Intelligence officials said Monday that the White House and State Department approved surveillance of world leaders' phone calls, the Los Angeles Times reported. The LA Times report seems to contradict a Wall Street Journal report published Monday, which also cited anonymous officials, that said for almost five years President Barack Obama was unaware the National Security Agency monitored world leaders' communications.



One anonymous official told the newspaper that although Obama may not have been briefed specifically on those NSA programs, National Security Council staff would have known about the surveillance. Some officials also told the Times that professional staff at U.S. intelligence agencies believe the White House blamed them for conducting lawful surveillance in an attempt to distance itself from the fallout caused by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden's disclosures.



Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Monday in a statement that she is "totally opposed" to monitoring allied leaders, adding it was "a big problem" that Obama was reportedly not aware of the surveillance. Obama declined to discuss those reports Monday night in an interview with Fusion.




http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-officials-say-white-house-ok-d-monitoring-of-world-leaders

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[Drale]

1. The White House under who?

I'm not saying that Obama could never have authorized such spying but I believe its far more likely that the Bush admin authorized it and it has just been sitting in the background with the conservatives at the NSA "forgetting" to tell the new White House admin about it.

[Segami]

3. "...Obama may not have been specifically briefed on NSA operations..

...targeting a foreign leader's cellphone or email communications, one of the officials said. "But certainly the National Security Council and senior people across the intelligence community knew exactly what was going on, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous."

If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books.

Some U.S. intelligence officials said they were being blamed by the White House for conducting surveillance that was authorized under the law and utilized at the White House.

"People are furious," said a senior intelligence official who would not be identified discussing classified information. "This is officially the White House cutting off the intelligence community....."


http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-77965005/

[Mass]

2. When? This started in 2002.