Pierluigi Paganini
January 01, 2016
After a report from the Wall Street Journal, the US Government is facing an allegation regarding eavesdropping of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and members of Congress.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, there might have been a breach of privacy in the communication between Benjamin Netanyahu and some members of Congress. Such a breach apparently occurred during the negotiations of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Congress related to the nuclear deal of the country with Iran.
The news came as a disturbing shock, since Barack Obama would be breaking the rules and putting his credibility at risk.
Chairman Devin Nunes stated on the matter:
“The House Intelligence Committee is looking into allegations in the Wall Street Journal regarding possible Intelligence Community (IC) collection of communications between Israeli government officials and members of Congress,” and carried on to say: “The Committee has requested additional information from the IC to determine which, if any, of these allegations are true, and whether the IC followed all applicable laws, rules, and procedures.”
There is debate as to who has been the target of such eavesdropping, as both Congressmen and the Prime Minister of Israel could be the reason for this type of scheme. On the matter, a letter was filed and the whole situation was explained. In the letter, the Congress of the United States has informed the NSA that there is a deadline, in which the proper documents need to be filed on their behalf. We quote from the letter:
“To help the Committee better assess these issues, please provide copies of all guidance (including all formal and informal policies and procedures) governing the process NSA follows in determining whether it has intercepted communications involving the United States Congress, and in screening communications determined to involve the United States Congress … for further distribution to any other government official, employee, or agent,”
The deadline extends to January 13th for the documents and January 15th for the appropriate briefing of the committee on the case. A lot of people have expressed their opposition to such tactics, including Former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra. The privacy concerns are too high and substantial to ignore, as it seems.
Ned Price, on the other hand, was more reassuring when he stated the following:
“We do not conduct any foreign intelligence surveillance activities unless there is a specific and validated national security purpose … This applies to ordinary citizens and world leaders alike.” January is closing in and it will be really interesting to see how this will turn out…
Written by: Ali Qamar, Founder/Chief Editor at SecurityGladiators.com
Author Bio:
Ali Qamar is an Internet security research enthusiast who enjoys “deep” research to dig out modern discoveries in the security industry. He is the founder and chief editor at Security Gladiators, an ultimate source for cyber security. To be frank and honest, Ali started working online as a freelancer and still shares the knowledge for a living. He is passionate about sharing the knowledge with people, and always try to give only the best. Follow Ali on Twitter @AliQammar57
(Security Affairs – Netanyahu, Israel)
