The National Security Agency has been monitoring the conversations of at least 35 world leaders, according to a document provided to The Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The National Security Agency has been monitoring the conversations of at least 35 world leaders, according to a document provided to The Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden

A parody of the National Security Administration's logo, created by EFF designer Hugh D'Andrade to help publicize EFF's case against NSA illegal spying, 1st Unitarian v. NSA: https://www.eff.org/node/75009

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Published on Thursday, October 24, 2013 by Common Dreams

NSA Listens to Phone Calls of 35 World Leaders, Says New Leak

Amongst international furor, NSA memo confirms eavesdropping on 'allies'

- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

The NSA memo suggests that such surveillance was not isolated as the agency routinely monitors world leaders. (Guardian)The National Security Agency has been monitoring the conversations of at least 35 world leaders, according to a document provided to The Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden—a new revelation that will likely add to the ongoing furor over the U.S.'s surveillance of other government's activities.
According to the documents, U.S. officials from a bevy of departments "who mixed with world leaders and politicians" are routinely called upon by the NSA to hand over contacts and phone numbers of those officials.
Included in the "Rolodexes or phone lists" collected by NSA analysts from "customer" departments, such as the White House, State Department and the Pentagon, was the communication info for 35 thus far unnamed world leaders, leading to the surveillance of their phone calls, according to the documents.
The revelation comes amongst growing tensions between the U.S. and leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico, over ongoing NSA stories that have shown the U.S. has continuously and vigorously kept a close eye on the communications of those governments.
The Guardian reports:

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 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.

"In one recent case," the document states, "a US official provided NSA with 200 phone numbers to 35 world leaders … Despite the fact that the majority is probably available via open source, the PCs [intelligence production centers] have noted 43 previously unknown phone numbers. These numbers plus several others have been tasked."

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James Ball
The Guardian, Thursday 24 October 2013 14.14 EDT

The NSA memo suggests that such surveillance was not isolated as the agency routinely monitors world leaders. Photograph: Guardian

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 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 revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.
After Merkel's allegations became public, White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a statement that said the US "is not monitoring and will not monitor" the German chancellor's communications. But that failed to quell the row, as officials in Berlin quickly pointed out that the US did not deny monitoring the phone in the past.
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.
The memo, dated October 2006 and which was issued to staff in the agency's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), was titled "Customers Can Help SID Obtain Targetable Phone Numbers".
It begins by setting out an example of how US officials who mixed with world leaders and politicians could help agency surveillance.
"In one recent case," the memo notes, "a US official provided NSA with 200 phone numbers to 35 world leaders … Despite the fact that the majority is probably available via open source, the PCs [intelligence production centers] have noted 43 previously unknown phone numbers. These numbers plus several others have been tasked."

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