In a week when international diplomacy was rocked by reports of new levels of dirty tricks by the U.S. administration and the NSA’s spying program, President Obama is receiving unexpected help from the most unlikely of allies.
On Sunday, the U.S. administration was called out and forced to defend the NSA’s full-scale, international Cold War-style espionage directed at 35 world leaders, including Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. The revelation, exposed by Germany’s newspaper Bild, included that the NSA had tapped Merkel’s phone, and that this information had allegedly been monitored under the direction of Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the NSA, and with the express wishes of the President.
In other emerging reports, Der Spiegel reported that Merkel’s mobile number had been listed by the NSA‘s Special Collection Service since 2002 and may have been monitored for more than 10 years. It further alleged that President Obama only removed her details from the file before his visit to Berlin in June.
As the international fallout begins with a crisis of confidence spreading across European countries, as well as Brazil and Australia, President Obama is receiving one helping hand: Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).
Former chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, King is defending the U.S. administration’s espionage tactics as a necessary way to “save lives.” In an interview on “Meet the Press,” he said:
“President Barack Obama should stop apologizing for National Security Agency operations in Europe.
“The president should stop apologizing, stop being defensive … The reality is the NSA has saved thousands of lives not just in the United States but in France, Germany and throughout Europe.”
King added, “It bothers the hell out of me” when people in his own party like Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) “try to exalt” NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
“Quite frankly, the NSA has done so much for our country and so much for the president, he’s the commander in chief. He should stand with the NSA,” King said.
King’s interview was in response to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney issuing a statement saying the U.S. “is not monitoring and will not monitor” the German chancellor’s communications. But the statement falls short on the issue of whether the U.S. administration ever monitored the German chancellor in the past — and on whose authority.
Understandably, tensions are running high in Europe. Arriving in Brussels for an EU summit last week, Merkel accused the U.S. of a breach of trust: “We need to have trust in our allies and partners, and this must now be established once again. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany.”
European Union members gathered to discuss issues relating to data gathering and protection information used by companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, but also highlighted the shortcomings of the U.S. administration.
The EU wants to impose new rules that would restrict how data is collected in Europe by firms such as Google and Facebook and shared with non-EU countries. They wish to introduce the right of EU citizens to request that their digital traces be erased, and impose fines of $138 million or more on rule-breakers.
This news undoubtedly will cause the U.S. administration some concern. If these new rules are passed into law, they would raise the cost of handling data in Europe, and Google, Yahoo and Microsoft would have to pay higher prices for information collected. This could in turn curb the NSA’s activities.
Although the U.S. espionage scandal wasn’t the primarily purpose of the EU summit, the U.S. President’s activities were singled out. In a statement, the EU Heads of State propose to curb U.S pervasive spying tactics and phone tapping, concluding that by the end of the year an agreement with the U.S must be struck. They state:
“France and Germany … seek bilateral talks with the USA with the aim of finding before the end of the year an understanding on mutual relations in that field … They also pointed to the existing Working Group between the EU and the USA on the related issue of data protection and called for rapid and constructive progress in that respect.”
As more information emerges on NSA monitoring foreign leaders and NATO allies, questions of trust will continue to be raised. Next year the U.S. administration will start its withdrawal of troops in Afghanistan, so U.S spying could be putting other international programs at risk.
With the European Union countries’ involvement in the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the U.S is balancing a high-wire act. Its aggressive espionage tactics to stop terrorism ha only alienated U.S allies. With current or potential conflicts looming in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran — all requiring NATO assistance — will U.S allies be willing to help out in the future?