Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Tracking & Law Enforcement

US Spy Chief Defends Spying on Foreign Leaders

WASHINGTON – The head of US intelligence said Tuesday the country’s spy agencies have always tried to learn the intentions of foreign leaders, but stopped short of confirming reports of eavesdropping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

WASHINGTON – The head of US intelligence said Tuesday the country’s spy agencies have always tried to learn the intentions of foreign leaders, but stopped short of confirming reports of eavesdropping on German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, said seeking to discern the aims of foreign heads of state has long been a “basic tenet” for US spy agencies.

“As long as I’ve been in the intelligence business, 50 years, leadership intentions in whatever form that’s expressed is kind of a basic tenet of what we are to collect and analyze,” Clapper told the House Intelligence Committee.

“It’s invaluable to us to know where countries are coming from, what their policies are, how that would impact us across a whole range of issues,” Clapper said.

“So, and it isn’t just leaders themselves, it’s what goes on around them and the policies that they convey to their governments.”

According to media leaks from former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has listened in on the communications of dozens of foreign leaders, including Merkel.

The revelation has created an uproar in Germany and across Europe amid conflicting reports as to when President Barack Obama allegedly learned or approved of the eavesdropping.

Clapper was asked by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, why US spy services tried to track the intentions of foreign leaders. But the lawmaker did not refer to reports the National Security Agency was listening in on Germany’s chancellor as well as other leaders from other friendly states.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Rogers said the “best way” to determine a foreign leader’s plans was “to somehow either get close to a foreign leader or actually get communications of the foreign leader,” and asked Clapper: “Would that be accurate?”

And the spy chief replied: “Yes, it would.”

Asked if America’s allies have carried out espionage against the United States, Clapper said: “Absolutely.”

But another lawmaker, Adam Schiff, suggested the spy services had failed to uphold their legal obligation to inform the intelligence committees in Congress of “significant” espionage activities, which he said should include any spying on foreign leaders.

Clapper appeared to disagree, saying the spy agencies were complying with the law by telling lawmakers about the guiding priorities of intelligence gathering, without specifying each source or “selector” to be tracked.

The chairman of the committee, Rogers, later rebuked Schiff, saying committee members are not kept in the “dark,” that “robust amounts of material” from the NSA are available to lawmakers who take the time to study it, and that spy agencies could not be expected to provide every detail of their espionage work.

Schiff pushed back, saying not all sources or selectors “are equal” and that the committee members could not have learned about NSA spying on a certain “chancellor.”

“When a selector is the chancellor of an allied nation, that’s an exceptional selector,” he said.

“And I can’t speak, Mr. Chairman, for other members of the committee but I’d be very surprised if there are any, apart perhaps from the chairman, who were aware of this, if it was going on, and it’s not for lack of doing homework by committee members.”

Written By

AFP 2023

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Cybercrime

Daniel Kelley was just 18 years old when he was arrested and charged on thirty counts – most infamously for the 2015 hack of...

Cybercrime

No one combatting cybercrime knows everything, but everyone in the battle has some intelligence to contribute to the larger knowledge base.

Cybercrime

The FBI dismantled the network of the prolific Hive ransomware gang and seized infrastructure in Los Angeles that was used for the operation.

Ransomware

The Hive ransomware website has been seized as part of an operation that involved law enforcement in 10 countries.

Privacy

Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source...

CISO Strategy

The SEC filed charges against SolarWinds and its CISO over misleading investors about its cybersecurity practices and known risks.

Cybercrime

A global cyber espionage campaign has resulted in the networks of many organizations around the world becoming compromised after the attackers managed to breach...

Ransomware

US government reminds the public that a reward of up to $10 million is offered for information on cybercriminals, including members of the Hive...