Amid the raging controversy over US spying of top world leaders including some close allies, and claims and counter-claims on whether President Barack Obama knew and approved of it, the White House is considering putting a stop to the eavesdropping on the leaders of American allies.
The revelation related to the surveillance of German chancellor Angela Merkel, threatened a major diplomatic crisis, a European Union parliamentary delegation landed in Washington on Monday and gave the Americans an “earful” on the subject.
While senior US officials claimed President Obama was unaware of the surveillance of top allies till the eruption of this controversy, The los Angeles Times, citing current and former intelligence officials, reported that the White House and the State Department had actually “signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders”.
The report went on to say that professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other US intelligence agencies were “angry” with the President for having “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”.
On a day of hectic developments, with the EU team meeting with the US lawmakers and the Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein demanding a “total review of all (American) intelligence programmes”, reports said that President Obama was “poised to order the National Security Agency to stop eavesdropping on the leaders of American allies”.
Obama in an interview to ABC’s Fusion network, said that national security operations were being reassessed to make sure the NSA’s growing technical spying capability was kept under control, “We give them policy direction. But what we’ve seen over the last several years is their capacities continue to develop and expand, and that’s why I’m initiating now, a review to make sure that what they’re able to do, doesn’t necessarily mean what they should do.”
The EU delegation, which was on Capitol Hill meeting with American lawmakers, complained of “breakdown of trust”. “If you get the feeling that your closest ally’s spying on you, then that’s difficult to talk to such an ally in an open way anymore. If all the citizens in Europe and the world believe that America is spying on every individual citizens, then I think people do not love America anymore,” commented Elmar Brok, a German member of European Parliament.
Terming the wiretapping of Chancellor Merkel’s phone a criminal act, Brok told CBS News that Germany would want a “no-spying” pledge, similar to the one that the United States has with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. France has mooted a similar arrangement.
“The key message is there is a problem,” said Silvia Kofler, a spokeswoman for the European Union. “We need to re-establish the trust between partners. You don’t spy on partners.”
Besides Germany, several other nations including France, Italy, Spain, Mexico and Brazil have all complained about the NSA operations.
Senator Feinstein, even while voicing her total opposition to spying on leaders of US allies, including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany, sought to insulate Obama from the controversy, commenting: “It is my understanding that President Obama was not aware Chancellor Merkel’s communications were being collected since 2002.”
“Unless the US is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the US should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly Presidents and Prime Ministers,” Feinstein said in a statement.