Guardian | The National Security Agency monitored the phone conversations of 35
world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US
government department, according to a classified document provided by
whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The confidential memo reveals that the NSA
encourages senior officials in its "customer" departments, such the
White House, State and the Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the
agency can add the phone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their
surveillance systems.
The
document notes that one unnamed US official handed over 200 numbers,
including those of the 35 world leaders, none of whom is named. These
were immediately "tasked" for monitoring by the NSA.
The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused the US of tapping her mobile phone.
After
Merkel's allegations became public, White House press secretary Jay
Carney issued a statement that said the US "is not monitoring and will
not monitor" the German chancellor's communications. But that failed to
quell the row, as officials in Berlin quickly pointed out that the US
did not deny monitoring the phone in the past.
The NSA
memo obtained by the Guardian suggests that such surveillance was not
isolated, as the agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world
leaders – and even asks for the assistance of other US officials to do
so.
The memo, dated October 2006 and which was issued to staff in
the agency's Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), was titled
"Customers Can Help SID Obtain Targetable Phone Numbers".
It
begins by setting out an example of how US officials who mixed with
world leaders and politicians could help agency surveillance.
