WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct. 29 (DPI) – The claims and counterclaims among spy agencies kept swirling today as a US official told The Wall Street Journal that Spain and France provided the US National Security Agency with surveillance data.
If true – since the matter is cloaked under a national-security shroud it’s impossible to verify – the US claim that European countries participated in general surveillance might reduce the impact of earlier revelations that the US has long spied on allies, including leaders such as Germany’s Angela Merkel.
This diplomatic dust-up is just the latest fallout from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden handing over classified data to journalists in June. Snowden now lives in exile in Moscow.
Many experts said spying is what spy agencies do, and the digital age has turned tech-based spying into a free-for-all. Even some journalists defended the monitoring of foreign leaders, and some too insisted the revelations should be no surprise. “Frau Merkel has been listened to since she was a teenager,” Frederick Forsyth, a novelist and former Berlin-based correspondent told Reuters. “The only thing that amazes me about the furore is that it amazes people.”
More than a few readers, meanwhile, were increasingly willing to snicker at the entire affair, and criticize the Obama Administration for its handling of the revelations that the NSA has for years kept digital tabs on nearly everyone. From WSJ.com:
“Nothing like throwing your allies under a bus to deflect blame.”
“The rats are ratting everyone else out! This will make Barry (Obama) very popular around the world.”
“Why on earth would the US Intelligence community EVER admit this? By taking the blame, which they were likely to get anyway, they earned a huge debt from the French and Spanish. This could be cashed in at some future time when we really needed it. What bunch of idiots let this slip!”
“What is the big deal? The media has made this into a big story that is no story at all. All intelligence agencies in every country,are in the same business, trying to understand what the other guys are thinking/ Now surprise, surprise, the WSJ reports that lots of the intercepted data was actually collected by our allies, who shared it with us. The Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and most other governments friends or not, must be really enjoying the reaction in America to these revelations, that have our leaders jumping through hoops trying to distance themselves from this “scandalous” behavior.”
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b9fc90ae-3ff4-11e3-a890-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2j8o9kOhN