WikiLeaks File | New Documents Expose NSA and US Government – Leaks Seem to Never End
Franco-American relations are at a critical juncture, as on Monday WikiLeaks revealed new documents proving that the NSA has been collecting financial data and conducting surveillance for over a decade.
"The United States has been conducting economic espionage against France for more than a decade. Not only has it spied on the French Finance Minister, but it has also been monitoring every contract or negotiation of French companies," said Julian Assange.
“Hundreds of such contracts are signed every year. The United States is not the only one using the results of this espionage, but it exchanges the data with the United Kingdom. French citizens have the right to know that their country is being monitored by supposedly allies.”
According to the leaked 2002 “Information Need” document, the NSA was tasked with collecting financial data from the French government, including details of business contracts, information on the state’s macroeconomic policy, relations with international lenders, and “questionable commercial activities.”
The PDF memo is very clear. It clarifies that all financial transactions or any financing, worth more than 200 million, should be investigated, with particular emphasis on activities related to the IT and telecommunications industries, oil and gas industries, environmental technologies, healthcare and biotechnology.
This information was not only for the use of the US, but was shared with the other four states of the "Five Eyes" alliance: namely the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The new revelations have naturally embarrassed the US government, which has long claimed that the NSA exists to spy on terrorists, organized crime, and drug traffickers. But once again it appears that the agency was specifically tasked with examining the financial interests of even US allies.
President Obama last week already called Francois Hollande once to apologize, when Wikileaks published that the NSA was monitoring three "generations" of French presidents.
These revelations led to an emergency meeting of the French cabinet. The revelations of the previous days will make matters even worse and it is very likely that more documents will be leaked in the coming weeks
Source: iguru
