Is the US spying game backfiring?

Every country has a right to defend itself, or so they say. It’s just that they have different ways of doing it.

There are so many intelligence agencies in the United States, each spinning on its own trajectory; it is a wonder they are not falling over each other. In fact, this peculiarity is pure manna to the chaps who make detective thrillers where a portion of screen time is spent on deciding who is actually in charge of an investigation. The big, burly bully who chomps on cigars and looks as if he hasn’t slept for a fortnight or the little guy in the raincoat who has the support of somebody high up in the pecking order and occasionally relapses into moments of pert and pouting ecstasy. The latest gaffe in which the US administration has been caught with its trousers down is the brewing scandal that erupted when it was discovered that the US National Security Agency (NSA), headed by General Keith Alexander, had been monitoring calls made and received on the cell phone of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. And that’s not all. The NSA had allegedly also monitored the phone calls and emails of millions of French and Spanish citizens.



I think it’s a sneaky thing, to spy on one’s allies, especially when you already have the information you are looking for. It’s a sure way to turn off friends to the extent that they start to look for alternative alignments. What makes the whole sordid episode even more ridiculous is that, according to the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, President Obama apparently didn’t know that the US was listening in to the conversations of allied leaders! The NSA chief had apparently spread his net to include Brazil, France, Spain and Mexico. The Guardian newspaper, quoting a confidential memo allegedly obtained from the NSA, suggested that the US had monitored the phones of 35 world leaders! When quizzed by the house intelligence committee, General Alexander, in his defence, maintained that the reports on which most of the accusations were founded were based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which were false. The Spaniards were so miffed, their foreign office summoned James Costos, the US ambassador in Spain. Costos acknowledged the worries and anxiety of the Spanish people about the surveillance programmes. Then, as if he was standing at the foot of some vertiginous summit that disappears into the clouds, he indulged in the kind of language for which diplomats are famous: “Ultimately, the US needs to balance the important role that these programmes play in protecting our national security and protecting the security of our allies with legitimate privacy concerns.” By now you must have gotten the drift.

Every country has a right to defend itself, or so the saying goes. It’s just that they have different ways of doing it. The US spy chiefs have stated that spying on allies is necessary and the collection of millions of phone records was conducted with the help of European governments. James Clapper, the US national intelligence director, didn’t mince his words when he said “spying on allies was a hardy perennial and a basic tenet of intelligence work”. Several US politicians have lined up to condemn the NSA’s reach and have asked for a thorough review of the programmes that have been set in place. Back in the land of the pure, where nobody gets shocked by anything anymore, the spying scandals haven’t caused the slightest stir. One of my German friends wanted to know what they expected to find on Merkel’s phone. “What worries me in that they might have found the new recipe for Apfelstrudel (an apple pastry) prepared by her Tante Anna (aunt).” I said, “That would be terrible.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2013.

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