14 DAY TRIAL // The NSA monitored phone conversations of 35 world leaders, a new classified document reveals.
According to the Guardian, a confidential memo indicates that the NSA encouraged senior officials from the White House, Pentagon and State Department to share their “Rolodexes,” so the agency could add the phone numbers of foreign leaders to the surveillance system.
The effort paid off as some 200 numbers were collected in this manner, including those of 35 world leaders, none of whom are named.
Considering that Germany is on fire right now as they suspected that Angela Merkel’s cell phone was being monitored by the NSA, this new data couldn’t have come at a worse time for the US. When Obama was phoned by Merkel, he assured her there was no spying on her phone, but given the circumstances, the statement registers as just another lie.
Up until now, it was revealed that the NSA had actually been spying on several world leaders, including Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff and two Mexican presidents.
The memo in question dates back to October 2006, but there are also clues that this type of collection efforts are actually quite common and have been repeated throughout the years, in part to update numbers, in part to collect more.
“From time to time, SID is offered access to the personal contact databases of US officials. Such 'Rolodexes' may contain contact information for foreign political or military leaders, to include direct line, fax, residence and cellular numbers,” the memo notes.
And while the Obama administration didn’t have the courage to outright deny all allegations when contacted by the publication, they did refer to comments made by Jay Carney at a daily briefing.
Then, he told reporters that the NSA revelations had caused tensions between the US and other countries and that they were being dealt with through diplomatic channels.
“These are very important relations both economically and for our security, and we will work to maintain the closest possible ties,” Carney said.