The chief of the US spy agency NSA has not discussed the alleged bugging of German chancellor's phone with President Barack Obama, officials say.

Gen Keith Alexander never discussed alleged operations involving Chancellor Angela Merkel, an NSA spokeswoman said.

German media say the US has been tapping the chancellor's phone since 2002, and Mr Obama was told in 2010.

The row has led to the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries in living memory.

A report in German tabloid Bild am Sonntag claimed that Gen Alexander had told the president about the bugging himself.

An NSA source told the paper that Obama had not stopped the operation, and had wanted to know all about Mrs Merkel as "he did not trust her".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24698142

According to SPIEGEL research, United States intelligence agencies have not only targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone, but they have also used the American Embassy in Berlin as a listening station. The revelations now pose a serious threat to German-American relations.

It's a prime site, a diplomat's dream. Is there any better location for an embassy than Berlin's Pariser Platz? It's just a few paces from here to the Reichstag. When the American ambassador steps out the door, he looks directly onto the Brandenburg Gate.

When the United States moved into the massive embassy building in 2008, they threw a huge party. Over 4,500 guests were invited. Former President George H. W. Bush cut the red-white-and-blue ribbon. Chancellor Angela Merkeloffered warm words for the occasion. Since then, when the US ambassador receives high-ranking visitors, they often take a stroll out to the roof terrace, which offers a breathtaking view of the Reichstag and Tiergarten park. Even the Chancellery can be glimpsed. This is the political heart of the republic, where billion-euro budgets are negotiated, laws are formulated and soldiers are sent to war. It's an ideal location for diplomats -- and for spies.

Research by SPIEGEL reporters in Berlin and Washington, talks with intelligence officials and the evaluation of internal documents of the US' National Security Agency and other information, most of which comes from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, lead to the conclusion that the US diplomatic mission in the German capital has not merely been promoting German-American friendship. On the contrary, it is a nest of espionage. From the roof of the embassy, a special unit of the CIA and NSA can apparently monitor a large part of cell phone communication in the government quarter. And there is evidence that agents based at Pariser Platz recently targeted the cell phone that Merkel uses the most.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/cover-story-how-nsa-spied-on-merkel-cell-phone-from-berlin-embassy-a-930205.html

A senior US intelligence official has told a House committee that discerning foreign leaders' intentions is a key goal of US spying operations.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper described such efforts as a "top tenet" of US intelligence policy.

But he told the House intelligence panel the US did not "indiscriminately" spy on other nations.

Mr Clapper was reacting to a growing international row over reports the US eavesdropped on foreign allies.

"Leadership intentions is kind of a basic tenet of what we collect and analyse," Mr Clapper said, adding that foreign allies spy on US officials and intelligence agencies as a matter of routine.

Also testifying before the House intelligence committee was National Security Agency (NSA) Director Gen Keith Alexander, who called media reports in France, Spain and Italy that the NSA gathered data on millions of telephone calls "completely false".

The information "that lead people to believe that the NSA or United States collected that information is false, and it's false that it was collected on European citizens," he added. "It was neither."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24729628

From onion soup:

The NSA chief denied the NSA spied on anybody.

 

"We would not spy on our friends, let alone spy on our enemies!" Keith Alexander said with strong teary emotions expressing his dismay at false accusations of his outfit being unfit for fitting duty.

 

"We're only here to collect money (cash) for our organisation... We tell Washington we collect phones numbers and (useless) data that means nothing and Washington gives us five cents per phone number... Most of these phone numbers are actually completely made up or picked up from the phone book at random."

 

"Sometimes President's Obama personal phone number comes up on our screens despite being on the do-not-cal register... We only listen in to verify the authenticity of the number." Added Keith with an accountant's dog look on his face.

 

So there.

 

see also: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/29/nsa-chief-keith-alexander-house-hearing

Limited Means and Hybrid Solutions

The possible committee's third problem relates to its limited means. In the digital age, surveillance is not something that necessarily takes place within defined national boundaries, but the committee's resources would be directly influenced by these borders.

For example, the committee won't be in a position to subpoena witnesses from the United States, or NSA files and White House documents, leaving them without many key pieces of the puzzle. Instead, the panel will be forced to limit itself to questions related to happenings within Germany itself. Having Edward Snowden testify would also be illuminating, but the possibility is unrealistic. What's more, witnesses might refrain from providing public testimony if they believe that doing so could harm Germany's security. Indeed, one can always cite this argument and use it as a pretext when refusing to provide details about the security-service operations.

One way around this would be to have the panel assume the hybrid form of an investigative committee and a Parliamentary Control Panel (PKGr), which is responsible for scrutinizing the work of the intelligence services at the federal level. In this way, some matters could be handled in a completely public manner, while others could be looked at behind closed doors.

Questions Over Staffing

A complicated parliamentary calendar is the fourth problem for a possible committee. Although the Bundestag plans to hold a special session on Nov. 18 to discuss these matters, it is questionable whether any investigative committee would be able to start its work anytime soon. After all, the panel still needs to be staffed, to formulate an investigative mandate, to subpoena documents and to hammer out witness lists and schedules.

The biggest hurdle involves personnel issues: The panel needs to be formed immediately, but that won't be all that easy before the new government is sworn in. Important posts still need to be awarded, and no one can tell at this point who will even be available to assume a position on this panel.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/germany-faces-challenges-in-investigating-nsa-spying-a-930639.html

According to "Le Monde", the true purpose of the NSA's spying is to invest in a massive store of information that can be cross referenced for at least 30 years. The deed is giga-normous and far more reaching and far more sophisticated than the old Big Brother...

Merkel doesn't know what should upset her more: the chutzpah of a so-called friend who listens to her phone calls, or the Americans' inability to keep it a secret. Now Merkel has been exposed as a chancellor who was deceived by an unscrupulous intelligence agency. Just last summer, she believed the assurances made by the NSA that it was complying with all laws and regulations on German soil -- at least that's what she said publicly. Now her staff are wondering what will come next. Will the world soon be able to read transcripts of her mobile phone conversations? It would be a political nightmare.

The chancellor has every reason to be angry -- but it's difficult to find the appropriate response. The German government has been considering a wide range of possible sanctions against the US. Should Germany take counterintelligence measures against the Americans -- in addition to its existing operations targeting countries like China and Russia? Should Berlin put the brakes on negotiations for a trans-Atlantic free trade agreement?

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nsa-scandal-berlin-restricted-by-close-relationship-with-us-intelligence-a-931503.html

 

 

Concerns were raised tonight that Britain operates a top-secret listening post from its Berlin embassy to eavesdrop on the seat of German power.

Documents leaked by the US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden show that GCHQ is, together with the US and other key partners, operating a network of electronic spy posts from diplomatic buildings around the world, which intercept data in host nations.

An American intercept “nest” on top of its embassy in Berlin – less than 150 metres from Britain’s own diplomatic mission – is believed to have been shut down last week as the US scrambled to limit the damage from revelations that it listened to mobile phone calls made by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But the NSA documents, in conjunction with aerial photographs and  information about past spying activities in Germany, suggest that Britain is operating its own covert listening station within a stone’s throw of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, and Ms Merkel’s offices in the Chancellery, using hi-tech equipment housed on the embassy roof.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britains-secret-listening-post-in-the-heart-of-berlin-8921548.html

 

Washington: When President Barack Obama travels abroad, his staff packs briefing books, gifts for foreign leaders and something more closely associated with camping than diplomacy: a tent.

Even when Obama travels to allied nations, aides quickly set up the security tent - which has opaque sides and noise-making devices inside - in a room near his hotel suite. When the president needs to read a classified document or have a sensitive conversation, he ducks into the tent to shield himself from secret video cameras and listening devices.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/barack-obamas-portable-secrecy-tent-some-assembly-required-20131111-2xb0l.html#ixzz2kKzaTKrp


I hope the staff also bring a Faraday carpet... Listening devices in the carpet fibres would be a cinch.

 

The German IT sector is hoping to profit from trust lost in American technology firms in the aftermath of the NSA spying scandal. But critics warn that plans to create a European routing system could affect the openness of the Internet.

For those interested in learning what German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière thinks of the Internet, a visit to the little-known website bevoelkerungsschutz-portal.de (population protection) can be instructive.

The website is full of information regarding Germany's response to potential catastrophes: mass epidemics, terrorist attacks, floods and the like. Last week, the site posted a video from a conference during which de Maizière discussed Internet security with the country's digital elite.

In the video, the interior minister, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, speaks of a "devastating crisis of confidence," but he shies away from explicitly naming the danger. Instead of talking about the United States' NSA intelligence agency or about whistleblower Edward Snowden, he talks of "the recent events" and of "those who collect data." He says the task is now that of rebuilding trust.
The Internet as an issue for civil protection authorities? It's not that farfetched in Germany at the moment. The revelations made public in recent months by Snowden have shown just how easy it is to spy on Germany, how poorly prepared the country's officials are and how clueless the population is.
They have also led the government to promise a large digital offensive. No matter what areas of life are affected by the web, it is to become safer, more people-friendly and more powerful. People in Germany are to regain their digital sovereignty and be able to surf the net with confidence. And the country itself is to achieve digital independence by establishing an independent infrastructure that is free of reliance on the US.
Such are the goals of the "digital agenda" that the government hopes to assemble in the first quarter of this year. And though the starting point is poor, the Snowden affair could nonetheless become something of a turning point.

Distrustful Customers

The revelations he brought to the world's attention have placed huge pressure on US Internet and IT giants. Companies that until recently were both extremely powerful and enormously arrogant are now concerned that their users could flee to firms overseas. According to market analyst James Staten of Forrester Research, US companies could stand to lose up to $180 billion (€133.2 billion) in turnover by 2016 as a result of distrustful customers. More conservative estimates place the potential losses at $35 billion.

The first signs of trouble can already be found on the balance sheets of the big players. Both IBM and Cisco have seen precipitous falls in foreign sales, particularly in China. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook are pleading with the government in Washington to exert more control over the country's intelligence agencies out of fear of a user revolt.

read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/german-it-industry-looks-for-boom-from-snowden-revelations-a-950786.html

bevoelkerungsschutz-portal.de 

See also toon at top...

 

from Der Speigel

read complete article of Germany's cave-in at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/chancellor-merkel-sacrifices-nsa-investigation-for-unity-on-ukraine-a-967596.html

Danish secret service helped US spy on Germany's Angela Merkel: report

 

 

Denmark's complicity in the NSA spying scandal against German politicians has been revealed in a joint European media investigation.

 

Denmark's secret service helped the US National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a European media investigation published on Sunday revealed.

The disclosure that the US had been spying on its allies first started coming to light in 2013, but it is only now that journalists have gained access to reports detailing the support given to the NSA by the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE).

The report showed that Germany's close ally and neighbor cooperated with US spying operations that targeted the chancellor and president.

The then chancellor candidate for the German center-left socialist party (SPD), Peer Steinbrück, was also a target, the new report disclosed.

 

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/danish-secret-service-helped-us-spy-on-germanys-angela-merkel-report/a-57721901

 

Read from top.

 

See also: https://yourdemocracy.net/drupal/node/27035

 

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"Germany’s Angela Merkel could have gone on and on. Why did she quit unexpectedly? It might have had something to do with Barack Obama and Joe Biden bugging the cellphone in her handbag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSItZ6yTUc

 

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