Every hour seems to bring a new revelation or twist to the rapidly boiling Spookgate fiasco, so much so that we’re forced to resort to a jump to covery all the dramatic twists and turns.
We have to begin with the most ironic headline of the day, reflecting the about-face by California’s plutocratic Sen. Diane Feinstein, as noted by Foreign Policy:
‘We’re Really Screwed Now’: NSA’s Best Friend Just Shivved The Spies
One of the National Security Agency’s biggest defenders in Congress is suddenly at odds with the agency and calling for a top-to-bottom review of U.S. spy programs. And her long-time friends and allies are completely mystified by the switch.
From Slashdot, a telling blow, putting the sense back in Sensenbrenner:
Even the Author of the Patriot Act Is Trying To Stop the NSA
The Daily Dot covers the legislation Sensenbrenner sponsored:
Congress introduces USA Freedom Act to limit NSA’s domestic phone spying
The bill regarded as standing the best chance of actually curtailing the National Security Agency’s domestic spying activities in the near future was introduced into Congress Tuesday.
BBC News sums up:
US spy policy: Pressure mounts on White House
Pressure is growing on the White House to explain US intelligence gathering and why President Barack Obama appeared not to know the extent of operations.
The Washington Post covers alleged ignorance in high places:
Obama didn’t know about surveillance of U.S.-allied world leaders until summer, officials say
In the midst of the controversy over U.S. surveillance this summer, top intelligence officials held a briefing for President Obama at the White House — one that would provide him with a broad inventory of programs being carried out by the National Security Agency.
The Guardian gives us a video of Obama rope-a-dope:
Obama sidesteps questions on NSA spying and what he knew
Program notes:
President Barack Obama sidesteps questions over whether he knew the cellphones of world leaders were being monitored by the National Security Agency. Speaking during an interview in the grounds of the White House, Obama said: ‘I’m not confirming a bunch of assumptions that have been made in the press’
While the Los Angeles Times notes discontent that could erupt into some major blowback [Rule Number One: Don’t piss off those who know your secrets. . .]:
Angry NSA staffers feel betrayed by Obama denial
Intelligence officials push back against assertions that the president and his aides were unaware of the eavesdropping on friendly foreign leaders.
But the London Daily Mail says it’s even worse inside the spook house:
‘We’re really screwed now’: NSA insiders are in full panic mode after Senate intelligence chief calls for a full investigation into spying programs
The New York Times notes another shift:
Obama Weighs Ban on Spying on Heads of Allied States
President Obama was poised to order the ban in response to a deepening diplomatic crisis over reports that the National Security Agency had for years targeted the cellphone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.
Watching America is an excellent resource, providing headlines and stories from around the world to enable a reader to see how the U.S. is viewed elsewhere. What follows are their translations of three representative headlines from the German press.
First, from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
Friend and Foe
One doesn’t spy on allies like they were drug lords in Colombia.
Next, the Braunschweiger Zeitung:
Spying on Merkel
Stalinist dictators behave this way, but not allies, partners and friends in the family of world democracies.
Die Zeit notes that the German federal government is hoist on its own petard:
The Federal Government Wants To Believe the NSA Lies
The reports could not be any clearer: The NSA is engaging in political and economic espionage on a grand scale.
The McClatchy Foreign Staff reveals that some folks get it right:
U.S. spying on Europeans a symptom of a paranoid government, Germans say
From EurActiv, a wish:
Bundestag wants to question Snowden over US eavesdropping
Germany’s parliament will hold a special session on revelations that the United States has tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, with left-wing parties demanding a public inquiry and asking to call in witnesses, including former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden.
More from Spiegel:
NSA Scandal: Parliamentary Spying Inquiry Poses Challenges
New details continue to emerge over alleged US spying in Germany. A parliamentary investigation could provide clarity – but it also has limitations. The issue constitutes the first stress test for a future coalition government.
Deutsche Welle notes one potential impact:
NSA affair could block EU-US free trade talks
Talks with the US over the transatlantic free trade agreement are set to continue. Phone-hacking “victim” Angela Merkel is in favor, but European Parliament President Martin Schulz suggests she reconsider.
After the jump, rage in Spain, pandering from London, your teas kettle may be spying on you, and much, much more. . .
El País covers Spanish blowback:
“Climate of trust” could be broken if US spying allegations are true, warns minister
Review will determine what intelligence should be collected, says United States
EUbusiness covers one response from Madrid:
Spain opens probe into US phone taps
Spain’s public prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation Tuesday into reported mass US eavesdropping on millions of telephone calls to determine if a crime was committed.
While The Guardian reports a justification from a predictably staunch defender:
Dick Cheney on surveillance: ‘You never know what you’re going to need’
Former vice-president accepts NSA spying on foreign leaders and domestic public, calling US ‘vulnerable, as shown on 9/11′
Deutsche Welle looks back to Washington:
White House defends mass surveillance activities
The United States has defended the use of mass surveillance in foreign countries as necessary to safeguard its own citizens. At the same time, a leading senator has called for a review of US intelligence programs.
And RT reports a sharp, implicitly threatening riposte from Washington:
French and Spanish intelligence aided NSA spying – report
Electronic surveillance which the European media and politicians blamed on the NSA was also carried out by their own intelligence services, as part of a wide-ranging allied security effort, according to US officials.
The Washington Post covers congressional options:
NSA bills set up a choice in Congress: End bulk collection of phone records or endorse it
On Tuesday, lawmakers are expected to introduce the first comprehensive NSA legislation since the agency’s phone records program was disclosed in June. The proposal, from a bipartisan coalition in the House and the Senate, would effectively halt “bulk” records collection under the USA Patriot Act. Another bipartisan group of lawmakers is preparing legislation that would preserve the program while strengthening privacy protections.
And EurActiv covers a European response:
Brussels to set up security, business networks in push for European cloud
The Commission is setting up new expert groups to advise on security and business related-issues to accelerate the establishment of a unique “European cloud” capable of challenging global rivals in a sector where the EU has been lagging behind.
But Spiegel, another German paper with an English-language website, reports Realpolitik:
Appearances and Reality: Merkel Balks at EU Privacy Push
Chancellor Merkel has put on a good show of being outraged by American spying. But, at the same time, she has impeded efforts to strengthen data security. Does she really want more privacy, or is she more interested in being accepted into the exclusive group of info-sharing countries known as the ‘Five Eyes’ club?
From EnetEnglish.gr, more alarms, this time from Greece:
Snowden documents say US embassy in Athens is a bugging centre
Embassy has one of 19 CIA/NSA Special Collection Service facilities in Europe
Map, initially published in full on Der Spiegel’s website but subsequently replaced with a censored version, lists Athens among 90 Special Collection Service facilities at locations worldwide
Here’s the original version of the map, via Cryptome:
But Theodoros Pangalos says the Greeks played their own game, bugging American ambassadors both in Athens and in Ankara, reports New Europe:
According to former foreign minister of Greece
Greek spies eavesdropped on 2 US ambassadors’ phones
CBC scents hypocrisy [as do we]:
NSA spying: The faux outrage of America’s bugged allies
Will the U.S. curtail its electronic spying? Don’t bet on it
And our nominee for the most ironic story of the day comes from Techdirt:
The Only People The NSA Can’t Spy On Is Its Own Employees
from the irony-or-just-incredibly-ugly? dept
More blowback, via Index on Censorship:
Surveillance revelations take centre stage at global internet summit
Activists went head to head with government representatives as mass surveillance dominated discussions at the 2013 Internet Governance forum.
And the London Telegraph bites the Bear sheltering Edward Snowden in her lair:
Russia ‘spied on G20 leaders with USB sticks’
Russia used complimentary ‘Trojan horse’ pen drives to spy on delegates at G20 summit, it has been reported
From Jiji Press, someone’s relieved:
Statute of Limitations Runs Out for Antiterror Data Leak
The statute of limitations on an online leak of what is believed to be Tokyo police’s internal documents about international terrorism investigations expired at midnight Monday, with no suspect identified three years after the case came to light.
And the Express Tribune reports spooky doing in a country where spy shops run the show:
Nisar for joint intelligence directorate, reviving Nacta
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Tuesday said that the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) will be revived and efforts will be made to improve coordination between all the intelligence agencies under a joint intelligence directorate, Radio Pakistan reported on Tuesday.
BuzzFeed reports hopeful sign from the agency that bugged and tried to blackmail a Nobel laureate:
FBI Director Orders New Agents To Visit Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is adding a mandatory visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in D.C. to agent training, he said Monday, a move he said will be a warning “of the dangers in becoming untethered to oversight and accountability.”
From Jiji Press, destroying the evidence in Japan:
Japan Destroys 34,300 Defense Secret Documents
Japan’s Defense Ministry destroyed some 34,300 secret documents over the five years through 2011, ministry spokesman Masayoshi Tatsumi said Tuesday.
And the Japan Daily Press covers another sort of spying:
Sleazy picture-taking incidents on the rise in Japan due to better camera technology
The Register finds bugs in other places:
DON’T BREW THAT CUPPA! Your kettle could be a SPAMBOT
Russian report says Chinese appliances hide Wifi slurping spam-spreaders
And Politico notes some Latin blowback:
Brazil to take up Internet privacy bill
Brazilian lawmakers will take up an online privacy protections bill this week that business groups say will stanch the free flow of data and with it Brazil’s economic growth.
YES! Magazine reports secrecy in the corporate interest:
Will a Secretive International Trade Deal Ban GMO Labeling?
The Trans Pacific Partnership is likely to be a setback for efforts to regulate and label GMO foods.
First it was voter ID. Now Facebook ID? From The Drum:
Fury at Facebook as login requests “Government ID” from users
Thousands of Facebook users have vented their fury at the social media site on Twitter after they were locked out of the site, and were requested to provide “Government ID” to log back in.
We wonder if it has anything to do with this [PDF] or similar efforts by folks with bages and guns?
Finally, one could wonder how all this spookery has been fulfilling the justifications used to impose it. Well, maybe this headline from CNN:
Terrorist attacks and deaths hit record high, report shows
As terrorism increasingly becomes a tactic of warfare, the number of attacks and fatalities soared to a record high in 2012, according to a new report obtained exclusively by CNN.
