Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago' • Hacker News Board

Re: Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'

#31

Post by Xylakant » Mon, Oct 28, 2013, 6:23 AM UTC

Kiro wrote: post #21

How can NSA tap something in Germany?

can as in "is technically and organizationally capable"? Fairly simple, especially when we're talking about the government and mobile phones. The US Embassy is about 200 meters from the Reichstag, just at the edge of the area where most of the government is located, just as the British Embassy. The Brits have a radome on the roof [1] and the Americans are reported to have hidden equipment behind fake walls [2][3]. Sufficiently sensitive equipment should give them a good reception on what most mobiles in that area do. Otherwise see the hack on belgacom: Root the provider and you have the mobile. Not all of that is legal, but I'm not certain under which law the Radome on the embassy is illegal.

[1] http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=Wilhelmstra%C3%9Fe%2071... [2] Infrared picture of the American Embassy that claims to be an indicator http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/bild-930301-561363.htm... [3] http://www.duncancampbell.org/embassy-bugging

Re: Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'

#32

Post by jonknee » Mon, Oct 28, 2013, 12:58 PM UTC

001sky wrote: post #26

jonknee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So long as both of the anonymously sourced stories are true... We don't know what Obama said and we don't know what Obama approved. For that matter, we don't know what the NSA actually did. It's safe to say that the NSA has been using their "required to fight terrorism" programs for non-terrorism spying, but beyond that everything is murky.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal discussions Thats from the NYT article explaining how his AG lied to the SCOTUS until the snowden leaks forced his hand. Seems like a bit of a pattern. Multiple reporters, multiple countries, multiple public figures. The common thread is blatant lying with a straight face? I dunno...

Or from the WSJ this morning (hardly a defender of the Obama administration):

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230447050...

Obama Unaware as U.S. Spied on World Leaders

> The National Security Agency ended a program used to spy on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of other world leaders after an internal Obama administration review started this summer revealed to the White House the existence of the operation, U.S. officials said.

...

> The White House cut off some monitoring programs after learning of them, including the one tracking Ms. Merkel and some other world leaders, a senior U.S. official said. Other programs have been slated for termination but haven't been phased out completely yet, officials said.

> The account suggests President Barack Obama went nearly five years without knowing his own spies were bugging the phones of world leaders. Officials said the NSA has so many eavesdropping operations under way that it wouldn't have been practical to brief him on all of them.

Re: Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'

#33

Post by 001sky » Mon, Oct 28, 2013, 6:40 PM UTC

jonknee wrote: post #32

001sky wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal discussions Thats from the NYT article explaining how his AG lied to the SCOTUS until the snowden leaks forced his hand. Seems like a bit of a pattern. Multiple reporters, multiple countries, multiple public figures. The common thread is blatant lying with a straight face? I dunno...

Or from the WSJ this morning (hardly a defender of the Obama administration): http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230447050... Obama Unaware as U.S. Spied on World Leaders > The National Security Agency ended a program used to spy on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of other world leaders after an internal Obama administration review started this summer revealed to the White House the exist…

Good ol' plausible deniability. What is interesting, is that this is the exact same construct and "excuse" for lying as in the case I noted above. In both instances, the senior executives claim to be caught unawares.

Re: Barack Obama 'approved tapping Angela Merkel's phone 3 years ago'

#34

Post by 001sky » Tue, Oct 29, 2013, 1:18 PM UTC

001sky wrote: post #33

jonknee wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or from the WSJ this morning (hardly a defender of the Obama administration): http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230447050... Obama Unaware as U.S. Spied on World Leaders > The National Security Agency ended a program used to spy on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a number of other world leaders after an internal Obama administration review started this summer revealed to the White House the exist…

Good ol' plausible deniability. What is interesting, is that this is the exact same construct and "excuse" for lying as in the case I noted above. In both instances, the senior executives claim to be caught unawares.

I suppose cracks in the facade may be starting to show...

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.

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-spying-phones-20131029,0,...