U.S. spy agency tapped German chancellery for decades - WikiLeaks

BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency tapped phone calls involving German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her closest advisers for years and spied on the staff of her predecessors, according to WikiLeaks.

A report released by the group suggested NSA spying on Merkel and her staff had gone on far longer and more widely than previously realised. WikiLeaks said the NSA targeted for long-term surveillance 125 phone numbers of top German officials.

The release risks renewing tensions between Germany and the United States a month after they sought to put a row over spying behind them, with U.S. President Barack Obama declaring in Bavaria that the two nations were "inseparable allies".

A German government spokesman said on Thursday Berlin was looking into the latest report and reiterated that such events strained German and American intelligence cooperation.

The United States repeated its position that it did not undertake foreign intelligence unless there was "a specific and validated national security purpose."

State Department Spokesman John Kirby said in an email, "This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike. Germany is a close friend and partner on a range of issues, and we look forward to continuing and deepening this important relationship."

Friends and associates of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden have denied he is the source of the latest WikiLeaks revelations, suggesting that they likely came from a different and still unidentified leaker deep inside U.S. intelligence.

His friends have said Snowden avoided giving the large tranches of classified documents he downloaded while working at NSA installations to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, even though Assange helped arrange for Snowden's flight to and current exile in Moscow.

However, some U.S. officials familiar with the latest leaks said they were unaware of other leakers and believe that one way or another the material newly published by WikiLeaks did somehow originate with Snowden, even if he did not give it directly to Assange.

Read more @ https://uk.news.yahoo.com/u-spy-agency-tapped-german-210348345.html#rWO2PaF

New leak?  I remember reading about this when the first wave or second wave of news came out in the Snowden revelations...not going to search back through thousands of links to find it...... its in them somewhere.....  However the numbers and fax numbers etc were not included in the news articles on it.... so it seems someone has slipped Wikileaks the info or they have been doing some hacking themselves.....  I have no idea.... C2b2618267b8ab6ef60ab51314395d58f68ea2bc_s36426872a6be5bebfb5a751ad5353383be4a10ae_s   They are quick to blame Snowden though..... too quick.


"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Edited 1 time by PeacefulSwannie Jul 10 15 8:15 AM.