European leaders cried foul over the National Security Agency phone-tapping revelations because they have to in front of their domestic audiences. In reality, everyone does it, and there are even very valid reasons for spying on your friends, according to an intelligence expert.
The fallout from the Edward Snowden revelations about the National Security Agency (NSA) spying on its European allies—among other things tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone—has over the last week led to angry statements from several European governments.
Germany and France have spearheaded a drive to make the United States agree to new trans-Atlantic rules about intelligence gathering.
“The United States of America and Europe face common challenges. We are allies. But such an alliance can only be built on trust,” Merkel said at the EU summit last week.
But according to intelligence expert Paul Williams, much of this rhetoric is in fact all part of usual foreign relations.
Williams, who is chief architect at BlackOps Partners Corporation, which does counterintelligence and protection of trade secrets and competitive advantage for Fortune 500 companies, told Epoch Times “Why do we spy on our friends? It’s because that’s how friends stay friends.”
“You know that I am going to keep my word, and I know that you are going to keep your word, because we both took the trouble to check up on each other. It’s mutual trust built on verification, rather than hope and good feelings alone,” he said.
Both NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander and National Intelligence Director James Clapper recently affirmed that monitoring foreign leaders of its allies does happen. Clapper said, “This is a fundamental given in the intelligence business.”
Yet, both Alexander and Clapper said U.S. allies also spy on U.S. leaders and those of other countries. Clapper said countries do this, even with their allies, “to tell whether what they’re saying” is true.
Mutual Consent
There exists a complex relationship between European intelligence agencies and their American counterparts, Williams said.
He said when governments do not have the laws, charter, public support, manpower, training, or ability to do the work, and get help from the CIA to do some “dirty work,” they still feel pressured by public sentiment to blame the Americans if it becomes public.
That Europe indeed relies heavily on American intelligence, and vice versa, when it comes to fighting terrorism was indicated by Alexander in his statement before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Regarding the planned terrorist attacks the NSA has helped stop, Alexander said: “Recall that 13 were in the U.S., 25 were in Europe. They are closer to the threat. It’s easier to get to Europe.” He also called it “an honor and a privilege” to help stop these incidents.
NSA Explanation
During Tuesday’s meeting before the House Intelligence Committee, leaders of U.S. intelligence departments took more than three hours to explain their operations, the activities of other countries, and the programs for sharing information among U.S. allies.
Alexander said, in particular, that rumors of the NSA spying on European citizens was a misinterpretation of screenshots leaked by Snowden. He said, “They, and the person who stole the classified data, did not understand what they were looking at.”
Alexander said the screenshots were from a Web tool that tracks metadata records from around the world and displays the totals. He said, “To be perfectly clear, this is not information we collected on European citizens. It represents information that we and our NATO allies have collected in defense of our countries and in support of military operations.”
Gathering Intelligence on Spies
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, went back and forth with Alexander on the purpose of the program, saying monitoring was not only of Europe nationals. Rogers also suggested it was to monitor foreign spies, particularly those from China and Russia.
“Is it possible for Chinese intelligence services, military or otherwise, to use networks that you would find in any nation-states of the European Union,” Rogers asked, to which Alexander replied, “Absolutely.”
He asked the same question about Russian spies and al-Qaeda operatives, which Alexander also affirmed as threats in Europe. Alexander said information on threats such as these is “something we share with our allies.”
