Pierluigi Paganini
February 26, 2016
A couple of days ago the non-profit journalistic organisation WikiLeaks published a collection of highly classified documents that reveals the NSA targeted world leaders for US Geopolitical Interests.
Some of the intercepts are classified TOP-SECRET COMINT-GAMMA, these are most highly classified documents ever published by a media organization.
In particular, one of the documents, reports eavesdropping activities conducted by the US intelligence that spied on the communication between the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on climate change negotiations.
The agents of the National Security Agency have bugged a private climate change strategy meeting between the two politicians held in Berlin.
In June 2015, Wikileaks released another collection of documents on the extended economic espionage activity conducted by the NSA in Germany. The cyber the spies were particularly interested in the Greek debt crisis. The US intelligence targeted German government representatives due to their privileged position in the negotiations between Greece and the UE.
Julian Assange, editor-in-chief at Wikileaks, released the following declaration on Wednesday:
“[it] further demonstrates that the United States’ economic espionage campaign extends to Germany and to key European institutions and issues such as the European Central Bank and the crisis in Greece.” “Would France and Germany have proceeded with the BRICS bailout plan for Greece if this intelligence was not collected and passed to the United States – who must have been horrified at the geopolitical implications?”
The new lot of classified documents also revealed that espionage on the Chief of Staff of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an activity that was conducted by the US intelligence for a for a long time, the spies intercepted targeting his Swiss phone.
Under the control of the US intelligence there was also the Director of the Rules Division of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Johann Human, but most interesting cables for the Italian Government are related the espionage of the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The interceptions were conducted by the Special Collection Service (SCS), a team of cyber spies operating under diplomatic cover in US embassies and consulates around the world. “Back in 2013, thanks to a Snowden document dated 2010, l’Espresso and la Repubblica revealed how Italy was the only European country, along with Germany, to have two Scs teams on its territory: one in Rome and the other in Milan. ” reported an article published by the Italian L’Espresso.
The documents leaked by Wikileaks confirmed that in March 2010 the US Government has intercepted communications between Italian Prime Minister and the Israeli PM Netanyahu, information disclosed reveals that Berlusconi promised to assist in helping Israel in mending the damaged relationship with the U.S..
The crisis between the United States and Israel was triggered by the announcement of Netanyahu’s plans to build 1,600 houses in East Jerusalem. Berlusconi offered its support to Israel in helping mend the situation.
According to these documents leaked by Assange’s organization, the NSA targeted targeted all the members of the Silvio Berlusconi’s staff, including his personal advisor Valentino Valentini, Berlusconi’s National Security Advisor Bruno Archi, Marco Carnelos, and the Permanent Representative of Italy to the NATO, Stefano Stefanini.
In October 2011, the NSA also intercepted a Valentino Valentini’s top-secret/Noforn document.
Documents confirms the US intelligence also intercepted a critical private meeting between then French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel and Berlusconi, where Sarkozy defined the situation of the Italian banking system as ready to “pop like a cork.”
Which is the position of the Italian Government?
Many Italian security experts are not surprised by these revelations, myself included, from the institutional perspective, it seems that the current Italian Government is ignoring the serious facts.
“The current Italian PM, Matteo Renzi, has essentially ignored the case, whereas the former Italian PM, Enrico Letta, speaking to the Chamber of Deputies in the midst of the most heated phases of the Nsa scandal, declared: «Based on the analysis conducted by our intelligence services and our international contacts, we are not aware that the security of the communications of the Italian government and embassies has been compromised, nor are we aware that the privacy of Italian citizens has been compromised». continues the Expresso.
The Italian government has summoned the American ambassador to Rome following the embarrassing revelations.
The document disclosed by Wikileaks also revealed other operations conducted by the US Intelligence, including the interception of the top EU and Japanese trade ministers.
“Today we proved the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s private meetings over how to save the planet from climate change were bugged by a country intent on protecting its largest oil companies. Back in 2010 we revealed that the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had ordered her diplomats to steal the UN leadership’s biometric data and other information. The US government has signed agreements with the UN that it will not engage in such conduct. It will be interesting to see the UN’s reaction, because if the United Nations Secretary General, whose communications and person have legal inviolability, can be repeatedly attacked without consequence then everyone is at risk.” said WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange.
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(Security Affairs – NSA, espionage)
