Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Contradicting The President, U.S. Intelligence Officials Are Adament That the White House Approved Spying Ops On Foreign Leaders

National Security Agency headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland (Reuters / NSA / Handout via Reuters)

White House OKd Spying On Allies, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say -- L.A. Times

NSA and other U.S. intelligence agency staff members are said to be angry at President Obama for denying knowledge of the spying.

WASHINGTON — The White House and State Department signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

Professional staff members at the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies.

The resistance emerged as the White House said it would curtail foreign intelligence collection in some cases and two senior U.S. senators called for investigations of the practice.

Read more ....

My Comment: As I have mentioned before .... the idea that the NSA would go rogue and decide on it's own to initiate spying operations on foreign leaders is a bit of stretch. If true .... and the White House is lying on it's knowledge of intelligence spy ops .... I can understand why these intelligence officials are furious .... they are being made the "fall guy" and they are not happy that they are being placed in such a position.

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