Posted on 12/29/2015 4:32:54 PM PST by Mariner
President Barack Obama announced two years ago he would curtail eavesdropping on friendly heads of state after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. surveillance programs.
But behind the scenes, the White House decided to keep certain allies under close watch, current and former U.S. officials said. Topping the list was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The U.S., pursuing a nuclear arms agreement with Iran at the time, captured communications between Mr. Netanyahu and his aides that inflamed mistrust between the two countries and planted a political minefield at home when Mr. Netanyahu later took his campaign against the deal to Capitol Hill.
The National Security Agency’s targeting of Israeli leaders and officials also swept up the contents of some of their private conversations with U.S. lawmakers and American-Jewish groups. That raised fears—an “Oh-s— moment,†one senior U.S. official said—that the executive branch would be accused of spying on Congress.
White House officials believed the intercepted information could be valuable to counter Mr. Netanyahu’s campaign. They also recognized that asking for it was politically risky. So, wary of a paper trail stemming from a request, the White House let the NSA decide what to share and what to withhold, officials said. “We didn’t say, ‘Do it,’ †a senior U.S. official said. “We didn’t say, ‘Don’t do it.’ â€
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
WSJ/Israel story was actually the opposite of the truth. #NSA activities have never been as restricted as under Obama. Nanomanagement again.
https://twitter.com/20committee/status/682202251365117952
Read this http://20committee.com/2012/07/29/friends-from-the-institute/
Former HPSCI Chair wants you to think he is shocked - shocked I tell you - that #NSA was going FI SIGINT. Spare me.
https://twitter.com/20committee/status/682211187778555904
That for sure…..its how he keep all of them in line so they do what he wants. NSA has all the dirt on all in US Congress, US Citizens, Israel and many other countries as well. All U need to do is watch all of them in US Congress bow to what ever he wants most of us have known this for long time.
Hold it, on all the Jonathan Pollard stories, certain indignant Freepers claimed allies don’t spy on one another.
Right its just like Bill & Hillary did with FBI files. NSA has given Obama all this info from day one no question……IRS is big player in this to no question.
From John Schindler:
1/ It’s time for some Counterintelligence #realtalk about actual espionage threats to USG in 2015; this is a big deal and WSJ isn’t helping.
2/ The “Big 4” CI threats to USG in 2015 are Russia, China, Cuba, and Israel, more or less but not 100% of the time in that order. Not new.
3/ Russia is No 1 CI threat due to excellent HUMINT, solid tradecraft & a strategic sense for deception AKA #provokatsiya USG cannot match.
4/ Russia is also significantly helped by a really solid SIGINT effort, both FSB & GRU, that has lots of skilled personnel. They’re good.
5/ Chinese HUMINT isn’t all that skilled but it’s a numbers game. Tough to stop. Only upside is they’re cautious outside the ethnic milieu.
6/ PRC SIGINT isn’t as good as the Russians but, again, they have big battalions. Also, their hacking is tough to stop, as OPM+DoD+WH know.
7/ Yes, Cuba really is a CI powerhouse vs USG, as I’ve explained in detail, excellent HUMINT in USA, http://20committee.com/2013/04/28/fidels-secret-friends-in-dc/
8/ Israel has good HUMINT, excellent SIGINT, and loads of chutzpah. They know they have a free hand vs USG. See: http://20committee.com/2012/07/29/friends-from-the-institute/
9/ Israeli HUMINT vs US is persistent+aggressive, arguably most aggressive CI threat we face anywhere. They know they face few consequences.
10/ France is another intel partner that also spies on USG hard. But they follow more rules than Israel does. They respect certain lines.
11/ Iran and KSA are serious CI threats too but not really inside USA (Iran esp). Regionally, a big CI problem, but worldwide not so much.
12/ Bottom line is USG faces many CI threats but only a few countries really target us hard inside our own country. Overseas is different.
source: https://twitter.com/20committee
If the GOPe behaved honorably and had nothing to hide than it dhould not bother them. At least that is what they tell us peons.
I am positive it is bigger.
I suspect this is the sword Obama is holding over the GOP-e.
You are not by yourself. In the old corporate world, when someone got and undeserved promotion. The standard response was, Wonder what pictures he or she had of the top guys/gals in the corporation.
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