Europe shared its spy records
cry in much of Europe as disclosures have multiplied, U.S. intelligence officials had avoided blaming partner agencies until now because of diplomatic sensitivities.
The latest twist in the Snowden saga is likely to spark domestic anger against allied governments and could jeopardize cooperation with the NSAand other U.S. intelligence agencies.
But America’s top intelligence officials and their congressional allies clearly felt the need to rebut damaging stories in the European media about alleged NSA surveillance nets in France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere, even if it meant blowing sensitive agreements.
Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee, Gen. Keith Alexander, the NSA director, disputed published reports that claimed the NSA had obtained data from more than 170 million French, Spanish and Italian phone calls in a 30-day period from early December 2012 to early January. The data allegedly camefromanNSA software tool called Boundless Informant.
Alexander said the call records were provided by “foreign partners,” not vacuumed up by the NSA.
“This is not information that we collected on European citizens,” he said.
“It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries andin support of military operations.”
Under questioning from Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the committee chairman, Alexander said the records were from calls “external to the country in which it was reported.”
U.S. intelligence officials refused to say how the database was assembled or used, but suggested the phone records were related to counterterrorism and force protection for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The European surveillance efforts are separate from the NSA’s secret eavesdropping on the communications of dozens of foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Those disclosures have put intense pressure on the NSA and the White House, and led to a scathing rebuke Monday by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
White House officials have sought to distance themselves from the criticism and point to an ongoing review of U.S. surveillance practices that is due to be completed in December.
Intelligence officials pushed back in private, saying they felt scapegoated for collecting intelligence based on priorities set in the White House.
Also appearing at the House hearing Tuesday, National Intelligence Director James Clapper said White House officials who read intelligence reports usually are told when information came from wiretaps.
Most countries, allies included, spy on the United States, Clapper said.
“Someof this reminds me a lot of the classic movie ‘Casablanca,’ ” he said. “‘My God, there’s gambling going on here?’ You know, it’s the same kind of thing.”