London: The National Security Agency (NSA) monitored phone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another US department, according to a classified document provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The confidential memo reveals NSA encourages senior officials in its “customer” departments, such the White House, State Department 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 US official handed over 200 numbers, including those of the 35 leaders, none of whom is named. These were immediately “tasked” for monitoring by NSA.
The revelation is set to add to mounting diplomatic tensions between the US and its allies, after 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 saying the US “is not monitoring and will not monitor” the 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.
NSA memo suggests that such surveillance was not isolated, as the agency routinely monitors the phone numbers of world leaders and asks for assistance of other US officials to do so.
The memo, dated October 2006 issued to staff in NSA’s Signals Intelligence Directorate, 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. “In one recent case,” the memo notes, “a US official provided NSA with 200 phone numbers of 35 world leaders... Despite the fact that the majority is probably available via open source, the PCs [intelligence production centres] have noted 43 previously unknown phone numbers. These numbers plus several others have been tasked.” The document says the new phone numbers had helped NSA discover more new contact details to add to its monitoring: “These numbers have provided lead information to other numbers that have subsequently been tasked.” The Guardian
