NSA Bombshell Shocks Former Spooks: "Why in The World Would We Burn Google?" [View all]

[Jesus Malverde]

Former intelligence officials and technology industry executives reacted with anger and anxiety over the latest revelations that the National Security Agency is reportedly infiltrating some of the world's biggest technology companies and making off with the private communications of millions of their customers. And if the reports are accurate, it could be very bad news for U.S. technology companies, who have been complaining for months that their government's secretive intelligence operations are threatening their business and driving customers towards their foreign competitors.

"I think they're in an almost impossible situation," Rep. Adam Schiff, a senior member of the Intelligence Committee, told The Cable. Speaking of Silicon Valley firms who are obligated to cooperate with the NSA, Schiff said recent leak revelations threatened to negatively impact their bottom lines. "It's definitely going to hurt their business and I think we ought to do everything we can to mitigate that damage. I'm very sympathetic to what they have to confront."

The Washington Post reported today that the agency "has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world." According to documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the agency is intercepting emails, documents, and other electronic communications as they move between the companies' privately controlled facilities and the public Internet, giving the NSA access to data in nearly real-time.

The latest revelations are likely to inflame an already tense relationship between the Obama administration and American technology companies, many of whose customers live outside the United States and are not protected by laws that prohibit the NSA from spying on Americans en masse.

"Why in the world would we burn a relationship with Google by breaking into a data center?" one former intelligence officer asked.

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/10/30/nsa_bombshell_shocks_former_spooks_why_in_the_world_would_we_burn_google