14 DAY TRIAL // The French will be very mad after they read WikiLeaks' recent disclosures, a collection of files which shows how the NSA has spied the country's top officials for the last ten years.
"The French people have a right to know that their elected government is subject to hostile surveillance from a supposed ally. French readers can expect more timely and important revelations in the near future," said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Just like with the recent German scandal where the NSA listened in on Angela Merkel's conversations, the US agency didn't shy away from spying on France's president as well.
During the ten-year period on which WikiLeaks has released documents for, three French presidents were targeted by NSA surveillance: Francois Hollande (2012–present), Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012), and Jacques Chirac (2007-2005).
The NSA was interested in more than internal French politics
Compared to previous leaks, very few documents were released this time, but those available detail the US' interest in matters like the Greek financial crisis, European Union's internal affairs, France's rocky relationship with Germany, the Palestine conflict, and the past global financial crisis.
More important was the NSA's interest in France's efforts to control the UN Security Council, where it's one of the five permanent members, along with the UK, US, Russia, and China.
Knowledge of France's movements could have provided insightful details on how to counteract their efforts and keep the council in the US' hands, something the French officials would have expected from Russia, not its ally, the United States.
There's bound to be outrage and angry comments coming from the French government in the following days, but let's not forget the same thing happened with the Angela Merkel scandal, and in the end the German investigators dropped their legal inquiry due to a lack of substantial evidence and cooperation on the NSA's part.