PRISM Scandal: The NSA Would Have Also Spied on the European Union

The revelation by the German weekly Der Spiegel that the European Union is among the targets that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) listened to casts a chill.

Do Americans spy on European allies, and if so, is it something new? Grave? Or rather trivial? Could it have unacceptable consequences for transatlantic relations, just when crucial negotiations between the EU and the United States for the creation of an ambitious free trade area should be beginning? Questions multiply through an indignant and bewildered Europe after Spiegel’s revelations on the existence of an NSA spying program which would have aimed for, among other targets, the EU’s diplomatic representatives in Washington. The Brussels Commission requested explanations from its American partner, which kept a disconcerting silence on Sunday. From all corners of the European political spectrum came reactions competing in virulence, calling for retaliation against Washington.

The German weekly is said to base its charges on confidential documents it learned about thanks to former NSA consultant Edward Snowden, now held in transit at the Moscow airport. The former CIA agent’s revelations had already brought to light the existence of PRISM, a surveillance program of major U.S. computer companies’ foreign clients. This program, conducted on behalf of the fight against terrorism, meant that American Big Brother had scrutinized millions of European citizens. Last Thursday in Washington, French Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls put the tensions into perspective, insisting on “excellent cooperation” between Americans and the French and an implicit understanding that the Europeans took advantage of PRISM. He recognized that Europeans have their own surveillance programs, “on a smaller scale,” without giving details. “The massive nature of the NSA program is assessing the challenges of our societies’ connected networks, and therefore is extremely fragile,” he said.

But the fact that the European embassy in Washington has been the subject of wiretapping and surveillance targeting its diplomats is “different and very disturbing” information, noted a European diplomatic source on Sunday. “If confirmed, it would mean that the Americans acted in open violation of the Vienna Convention, which defends the inviolability of embassies.”

“If the reports are true, it resembles the methods used by our enemies during the Cold War,” noted the German Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. “It defies the imagination.” Clarifications by Der Spiegel revealed that the NSA classified Germany as a “third-class partner,” with 500 million daily intercepted communications. In comparison, France appears almost untouched, with some 2 million connections monitored. Britain is not a target. On Sunday evening, The Guardian’s website even added to the agitation, saying that the embassies of France, Italy and Greece in Washington, among others, were among the NSA’s 38 targets. According to documents Snowden submitted to the British newspaper, U.N. representatives in these countries were also targeted.

These new revelations do not bode well for Washington, which is already facing tensions with Moscow and Beijing on the Snowden case. “If these revelations are true, we will have weeks of difficult European rhetoric, but I cannot imagine that it could derail the negotiations on the free trade agreement that Europe needs more than us,” says Sean West of the Eurasia Group. Republican lobbyist Bruce Jackson, an expert on transatlantic relations, played down the controversy, considering European’s excitement “ridiculous” and reckoning that “every marriage that works needs intelligence. Everyone spies on everyone,” he said; however, he doubts the European diplomatic delegations were really tapped, seeing the “little interest” it would represent in terms of intelligence.

By weakening the U.S. diplomatic position, these new European developments are in any case a welcome diversion for Edward Snowden. Some analysts question whether virtual consultant Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks, which is in an ideological war against America, inspired the Spiegel leaks. Others point out that the transatlantic turmoil suits Russia well at a time when it needs to adopt a more open position on the Snowden case. On an application for asylum, Ecuador, which is under diplomatic pressure from the United States, has returned the ball to the Russians, explaining the need for a request from the ex-agent on the run in proper form in order to decide. This implies that Moscow let him into its territory instead of washing its hands of the matter. “The Russians are having a good laugh. This transatlantic crisis is good for them,” Jackson told us this Sunday.