WikiLeaks: Washington’s Orders to American Diplomats

The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is made up of 17 agencies and organizations. There are the more secret ones, like the famous Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or the National Security Agency (NSA). There are also several specialized departments, including those of the security forces, army and police. And, at a level of involvement that those who communicate with American diplomats do not always suspect, there is the State Department. The diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and disclosed by Le Monde shed light on the role of American diplomatic and consular agents, who are encouraged, since they officially belong to the IC, to collect confidential and personal information, including on friends of Washington.

The secret “National HUMINT Collection Directive,” presented during 2009 by the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to American embassies across the world on Washington’s “needs,” is an update of a 2004 directive. These memos are among the longest and most detailed that the services have produced, with each “HUMINT” (Human Intelligence) directive specifying the particular centers of interest in each country and international organization. No one will be surprised by the dozens of pages detailing Washington’s desire to gather information on Palestine, Iran or Venezuela. There are hundreds of precise orders, concerning everything from transfers of money between influential Palestinians to the policies of African countries on the U.N. peace-keeping forces who could be carriers of AIDS. In the introduction, the memo reminds that “The intelligence community relies on state reporting officers for much of the biographical information collected worldwide.”

Troubling Details

But memo 219058, addressed to the United Nations’ U.S. delegation in New York, shows to what extent diplomats are encouraged to flout any rule of diplomatic immunity, not to mention the respect for private life. The secretary general of the United Nations, his secretariat and team, the UN agencies, foreign embassies and NGOs based in Manhattan are thus, without even considering the work of the intelligence agencies, subject to the intrusive gaze of the American diplomatic mission.

“The directive specifies that reports must include the following information: names, titles and other information contained on business cards; phone numbers, cell phone numbers, pagers and fax numbers; address books and lists of emails; internet and intranet passwords; credit card numbers; frequent flier numbers; working hours…” Do Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general, and his collaborators know that the American diplomats with whom they have lunch have received orders to take notes on their personal credit card numbers, or that those with whom they travel must transmit their frequent flier numbers? And that they are encouraged to memorize their computer passwords?

The American diplomats at the U.N. must transmit “all biographical and biometric information” on their colleagues from countries on the Security Council, including British and French allies, and on the leaders of numerous countries. The instruction “biometric” comes up in nearly all the memos: they must obtain “fingerprints, facial images, iris scans, and DNA” from all people who interest the United States.

Some people may not be surprised that American embassies belong to the intelligence community to such an extent. Others, who believe they maintain confidential relationships with diplomats, will think twice before accepting a souvenir photo, or leaving their DNA on a hair found in the collar of an overcoat in the embassy’s cloakroom.