NSA: Europe unites against USA?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/NSA-Europe-unites-against-by-Yasmeen-Ali-Security_Surveillance_Surveillance-131101-685.html

NSA: Europe unites against USA?
OpEdNews Op Eds 11/1/2013 at 16:09:51
By Yasmeen Ali

The latest revelations come amid anger and fury; allegations that United States had tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and that NSA had also monitored the Brazilian and Mexican leaders' communications, according to a local report.

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 as 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 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 (Published Guardian October 24, 2013).

European leaders have united in anger over the report. Herman Van Rompuy, European Council President, announced at a news conference that France and Germany were seeking bilateral talks with the US to resolve the dispute over "secret services" electronic spying by the end of this year. The report obtained by the Guardian dated 2006 suggests broad-based surveillance of leaders from the world. The Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta told reporters. "It is not in the least bit conceivable that activity of this type could be acceptable." German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that this expose has shattered trust in the Obama administration and undermined the crucial trans-Atlantic relationship (Aljazeera, October 25, 2013).

According to a report by David Kravets, the incident setting off the idea was of an ordinary purse snatching in 1976 in Baltimore. A young woman passed by walking alone to her suburban home had her purse snatched and the assailant fled with it. The assailant Michael Lee Smith was apprehended weeks later, the court case instituted against him continued for three years, leading to a 10-year prison term. "Almost 35 years later, the court's decision -- in a case involving the recording of a single individual's phone records -- turns out to be the basis for a legal rationale justifying governmental spying on virtually all Americans. Smith v. Maryland, as the case is titled, set the binding precedent for what we now call metadata surveillance.

[LiberalArkie]

1. I guess it is time for the US and the Brits to to have another go at

war with Germany and the rest of Europe again.