Switzerland Furious! Snowden Charge CIA Conducts Economic Espionage Against Swiss Banking

[HOLLYWOOD]

Reason article...

I think REASON has it wrong... It's Economic SABOTAGE against Swiss Banking system and their Swiss members/citizens. Espionage is intelligence gathering, but what Showden describes is the CIA were/are doing in Switzerland, is outright Sabotage to their countries assets/system/citizens.


http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/10/switzerland-furious-about-snowdens-charg


Switzerland Furious About Snowden’s Charge That the CIA Conducts Economic Espionage Against Formerly Secret Swiss Banks (http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/10/switzerland-furious-about-snowdens-charg)

Matt Welch (http://reason.com/people/matt-welch/all)|Jun. 10, 2013 3:12 pm
http://cloudfront-media.reason.com/mc/_external/2013_06/9dc725b017c92d333b83ba713016072e.jpg?h=350&w=228

One of the many lurid details in The Guardian’s remarkable interview (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why) with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was his account of what initially prompted him to leak:
By 2007, the CIA stationed him with diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland. His responsibility for maintaining computer network security meant he had clearance to access a wide array of classified documents.
That access, along with the almost three years he spent around CIA officers, led him to begin seriously questioning the rightness of what he saw.
He described as formative an incident in which he claimed CIA operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car. When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led to successful recruitment.
"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he says. "I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."

Given that the U.S. has waged a long and mostly successful (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/44dbecc2-beec-11e2-a9d4-00144feab7de.html) campaign to rid the world of the scourge of Swiss banking privacy, an effort that largely culminated in an agreement signed just last Friday (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/Swiss_and_US_agree_on_FATCA_interpretation.html?ci d=36086564), the long-beleagured Swiss are a bit put out (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/US_security_snooping_scandal_unnerves_Swiss.html?c id=36112760) by the allegation that American spooks were thumbling the scale. Here’s Swiss Info (http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/US_security_snooping_scandal_unnerves_Swiss.html?c id=36112760):
"What is really very serious is that [US] agents are active on foreign territory, and violate the laws of the country where they are," former Swiss parliamentarian and prosecutor Dick Marty told public radio on Monday.
"This is not the first time they have done this, and I must say that they have been spoiled by the Swiss. For too long Switzerland has tolerated CIA agents doing more or less whatever they wanted on our territory."

Other quotes in the article are more hesitant; most express weariness at a world subjected to Washington's rules.
Meanwhile, GenevaLunch.com (http://genevalunch.com/2013/06/10/whistleblower-snowdens-geneva-days-subject-of-speculation/) reports that the Snowden disclosure "could not come at a worse time for the Swiss government, trying to convince parliament to back its emergency plan that would allow Swiss banks to turn over data on tax evaders to the US government."
It really is remarkable, and not nearly remarked upon enough, how the United States of America just imposes its international legal preferences upon the world, then exempts itself from those rules as necessary.
Three related pieces from me:

Three related pieces from me:
* Judge Alex Kozinski on Third-Party Privacy: "Kiss it Goodbye (http://reason.com/archives/2013/06/10/judge-alex-kozinski-on-third-party-priva)"
* The Insatiable Taxman (http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/10/the-insatiable-taxman): New laws push expatriate Americans to keep their money in their mattresses

* The Dark Side of Anti-"Swiss Bank Accout" Politics (http://reason.com/archives/2012/07/10/the-dark-side-of-anti-swiss-bank-account)

[Anti Federalist]

The whole damn world ought to be furious at us.

[HOLLYWOOD]

// Bump

[jmdrake]

Waitafreakingminute! Remember all of the hairsplitting that's been done recently over whether the program targeted Americans talking to Americans or Americans talking to foreigners? People assume foreigners are the "jihadi" types. But say if the foreigners are your offshore bankers? Remember the story recently about the Swiss banks, known historically for telling all governments seeking information about their clients to kiss off, all of a sudden deciding to "play ball" with the U.S. IRS? Connection? So this kind of espionage/dirty tricks (getting your banker drunk so the CIA can blackmail him) is designed to do what? Keep you from getting your assets beyond the greedy fingers of Uncle Sam?

[HOLLYWOOD]

It's spreading like wildfire... The NSA is sabotaging foreign country's banking systems, setting up bankers in compromising situations, then extortion/bribery/corruption of information.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/obama-pressured-explain-nsa-surveillance

Obama pressured by European leaders to explain NSA surveillance tactics

Information chiefs worldwide sound alarm while US senator Dianne Feinstein orders congressional review of NSA program



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Officials in European capitals denounced the practice of secretly gathering
digital information on Europeans as unacceptable. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Barack Obama (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/barack-obama) was facing a mounting domestic and international backlash against US surveillance operations on Monday as the administration struggled to contain one of the most explosive national security leaks in US history.
Political opinion in the US was split with some members of Congress calling for the immediate extradition from Hong Kong (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/hong-kong) of the whistleblower, Edward Snowden (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/edward-snowden). But other senior politicians in both main parties (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/patriot-act-nsa-surveillance-review) questioned whether US surveillance practices had gone too far.
Dianne Feinstein (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/dianne-feinstein), chairman of the national intelligence committee, has ordered the NSA (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/nsa) to review how it limits the exposure of Americans to government surveillance. But she made clear her disapproval of Snowden. "What he did was an act of treason," she said.
Officials in European capitals demanded immediate answers from their US counterparts and denounced the practice of secretly gathering digital information on Europeans as unacceptable, illegal and a serious violation of basic rights. The NSA, meanwhile, has referred Snowden to the Justice Department, and said that it was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who revealed secrets of the Vietnam war through the Pentagon Papers in 1971, described Snowden's leak (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america) as even more important and perhaps the most significant leak in American history.
Snowden disclosed his identity in an explosive interview with the Guardian (http://http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance), published on Sunday. He revealed he was a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden worked at the National Security Agency for the past four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
In his interview, Snowden revealed himself as the source for a series of articles in the Guardian last week, which included disclosures of a wide-ranging secret court order that demanded Verizon pass to the NSA (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order)the details of phone calls related to millions of customers, and a huge NSA intelligence system called Prism (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order), which collects data on intelligence targets from the systems of some of the biggest tech companies.
Snowden said he had become disillusioned with the overarching nature of government surveillance in the US. "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.
"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
On Monday, Paul Ryan, the former Republican vice-presidential nominee, raised questions about whether privacy (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/privacy) was being unduly threatened. "I'm sure somebody can come up with a great computer program that says: 'We can do X, Y, and Z,' but that doesn't mean that it's right," he told a radio station in Wisconsin. "I want to learn a lot more about it on behalf of the people I represent," he added.
Pressure was growing on the White House to explain whether there was effective congressional oversight of the programmes revealed by Snowden. The director of national intelligence, James Clapper, said in an NBC interview that he had responded in the "least untruthful manner" possible when he denied in congressional hearings last year that the NSA collected data on millions of Americans.
Clapper also confirmed that senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the intelligence committee, had asked for a review to "refine these NSA processes and limit the exposure to Americans' private communications" and report back "in about a month".
In Europe (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/europe-news), the German chancellor Angela Merkel (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/angela-merkel) indicated she would press Obama on the revelations at a Berlin summit next week, while deputy European Commission chief Viviane Reding said she would press US officials in Dublin on Friday, adding that "a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury or constraint but a fundamental right".
Peter Schaar, Germany's federal data protection commissioner told the Guardian that it was unacceptable that US authorities have access to the data of European citizens "and the level of protection is lower than what is guaranteed for US citizens." His Italian counterpart, Antonello Soro, said that the data dragnet "would not be legal in Italy" and would be "contrary to the principles of our legislation and would represent a very serious violation".
In London, the British foreign secretary William Hague was forced to defend (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jun/10/david-blunkett-review-intelligence-oversight-law) the UK's use of intelligence gathered by the US. In the House of Commons, Hague told MPs that British laws did not allow for "indiscriminate trawling" for information. "There is no danger of a deep state out of control in some way," he said.
But Hague was reluctant to go into detail on how Britain handled information offered by US intelligence agencies, as opposed to information requested, or whether it was subject to the same ministerial oversight, including warrants.
Civil liberties groups ask for review of 'secret law'

The Obama administration (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/obama-administration) offered no indication on Monday about what it intended to do about Snowden. The White House did however say he had sparked an "appropriate debate" and hinted it might welcome revision of the Patriot Act, legislation introduced in 2001 which it claims gives legal authority for the programmes carried out by the National Security Agency.
"If [congressional] debate were to build to a consensus around changes [to the Patriot Act] the president would look at that," said spokesman Jay Carney. "Although this is hardly the manner of discussion we hoped for, we would still like to have the debate."
The ACLU and Yale Law School's Media Freedom and Information Clinic filed a motion on Monday asking for secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions on the Patriot Act to be made public in the light of the Guardian's files revelations.
The motion asks for any documents relating to the court's interpretation of the scope, meaning and constitutionality of Section 215 of the Patriot Act – which authorises government to obtain "any tangible thing" relevant to foreign intelligence or terrorism investigations – to be published "as quickly as possible" and with only minimal redaction.
"In a democracy, there should be no room for secret law," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. "The public has a right to know what limits apply to the government's surveillance authority, and what safeguards are in place to protect individual privacy."
Snowden drew support from civil liberty activists and organisations. Ellsberg wrote for the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/10/edward-snowden-united-stasi-america): "In my estimation, there has not been in American history a more important leak than Edward Snowden's release of NSA material – and that definitely includes the Pentagon Papers 40 years ago".
Thomas Drake, a former NSA executive who famously leaked information about what he considered a wasteful data-mining program at the agency, said of Snowden: "He's extraordinarily brave and courageous."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group, called for a "new Church committee" to investigate potential government infringements on privacy and to write new rules protecting the public. In the wake of the Watergate affair in the mid-1970s, a Senate investigation led by Idaho senator Frank Church uncovered decades of serious abuse by the US government of its eavesdropping powers. The committee report led to the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and set up the Fisa courts that today secretly approve surveillance requests (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance).
Both Snowden and the Obama administration appeared to be considering their options on Monday. Hong Kong, which has an extradition treaty with the US, is unlikely to offer Snowden a permanent refuge. But Snowden could buy time by filing an asylum request, thanks to a landmark legal ruling that has thrown the system into disarray.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Hong Kong said the case could be a "strong test" of the Chinese province's commitment to freedom of expression. "The FCC will watch closely how the SAR [Hong Kong] government handles his case, and in particular how it responds to any pressure from authorities both in Washington and Beijing to restrict his activities or to impede access by the media," it said in a statement.
In New York, the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, cancelled at very short notice a planned photo opportunity with the Hong Kong chief executive, Leung Chun-ying. "It would have been a circus, so we decided to catch up with him another time," a mayoral spokesman told the Guardian.
Additional reporting by Matt Williams and Tom McCarthy in New Yor

[torchbearer]

nobel must be proud.

[HOLLYWOOD]

nobel must be proud.I wondering how embarrassed the Scandinavians must feel... oh wait, like Nigel Farage stated, the EU has gone Communist, so it doesn't matter, it's all lies and illusions. Nobel has Obama on their front page of good. SHows you One World government is just a bigger badder lie.

Jay Carney's Press Conference Tomorrow


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLsDvGlIDh0

[Pericles]

I've been wondering if Switzerland was going to find its backbone.

[HOLLYWOOD]

I've been wondering if Switzerland was going to find its backbone.Look's like it's getting popular...

Cody Willard, formally of FOX BUSINESS and routine Market Watch writer, quotes Daily Paul carrying the story to day. :cool: :cool:
It's a big deal that we should not let die. Now ABC News is carrying the CIA/NSA attacks overseas. The US covert operations of infiltrating other nations and conducting sabotage, has the blowback that reciprocates in the Constitution destroying POLICE STATE of America.


https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/3620979676/eba005cf447aa3f6daeb0a9c010e9de3_normal.jpeg Cody Willard ‏@codywillard (https://twitter.com/codywillard) 3h (https://twitter.com/codywillard/status/344942492841570304)
Will the Swiss govt follow thru? “@dailypaul (https://twitter.com/dailypaul): Edward Snowden reveals questionable tactics by US in Switzerland http://bit.ly/19rPiIS (http://t.co/tQvCggZIsl) #Love (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Love&src=hash)”

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Edward Snowden reveals questionable tactics by US in Switzerland
Submitted by meekandmild (http://www.dailypaul.com/user/12223) on Wed, 06/12/2013 (http://www.dailypaul.com/date/2013/06/12) - 16:12in

Daily Paul Liberty Forum (http://www.dailypaul.com/forums/daily-paul-liberty-forum)


The Swiss government has formally asked the U.S. for "clarification" on a claim from alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden that CIA agents in Geneva pushed a banker to drink and drive as part of a dangerous recruitment ploy.
Snowden, the man who claims to have given top secret documents on the National Security Agency's vast surveillance programs to two major newspapers, briefly discusses the scheme in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Guardian, saying it was a "formative" moment that led him to question the "rightness" of U.S. intelligence.
In an attempt to learn secret financial information, Snowden alleged that undercover CIA agents would get the banker drunk and "encourage" him to drive home in his car. When the banker was eventually arrested for drunk driving, the CIA operatives offered to help him out of the jam, paving the way for recruitment as a source.
http://news.yahoo.com/switzerland-questions-u-over-cia-drunk... (http://news.yahoo.com/switzerland-questions-u-over-cia-drunk-driving-gambit-173556303--abc-news-topstories.html)


Switzerland Questions U.S. Over CIA Drunk Driving Gambit

http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/tfXuOGOB82RMR5spD1eOQw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9MjM-/http://l.yimg.com/os/590/2011/10/20/RR-logo_003910.png (http://abcnews.go.com/)By Lee Ferran | ABC News – 5 hrs ago


http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/H2c0.mN.pdfCGOtSlVogJQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9MzYwO2NyPTE7Y3c9NjQwO2R4PTA7ZH k9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD0zNTU7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/gma/us.abcnews.go.com/ht_us_consulate_mission_geneva_switzerland_thg_130 612_wmain.jpg
View Photo (http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/switzerland-questions-u-over-cia-drunk-driving-gambit-photo-173556575--abc-news-topstories.html) ABC News - Switzerland Questions U.S. Over CIA Drunk Driving Gambit (ABC News)

The Swiss government has formally asked the U.S. for "clarification" on a claim from alleged NSA leaker Edward Snowden that CIA agents in Geneva pushed a banker to drink and drive as part of a dangerous recruitment ploy.
Snowden, the man who claims to have given top secret documents on the National Security Agency's vast surveillance programs to two major newspapers, briefly discusses the scheme in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance), saying it was a "formative" moment that led him to question the "rightness" of U.S. intelligence.

In an attempt to learn secret financial information, Snowden alleged that undercover CIA agents would get the banker drunk and "encourage" him to drive home in his car. When the banker was eventually arrested for drunk driving, the CIA operatives offered to help him out of the jam, paving the way for recruitment as a source.

"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," Snowden told The Guardian. "I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."
A spokesperson for Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs told ABC News the department had "taken note" of Snowden's claims and has sent a "diplomatic note" to the U.S. Embassy in Bern asking "for clarification of the matter."
"In accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/vcdr/vcdr.html), Switzerland expects the members of the diplomatic missions in Bern and the members of the permanent mission in Geneva to comply with the laws and rules of the country of residence," a statement from the foreign ministry read.

At the time of the alleged incident, Snowden said he was working undercover for the CIA in Geneva maintaining computer network security. The CIA has declined to comment on Snowden's case, but the Swiss foreign ministry confirmed that he publicly held the position of "an attaché" with the permanent U.S. mission to the United Nations in Geneva from March 2007 to February 2009. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report.

Snowden said he left the CIA in 2009 to work in the private sector for Dell and then with the technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. He had only been working for Booz as a contractor at an NSA facility in Hawaii for a few months when he skipped town for Hong Kong, allegedly taking secret NSA documents that he said revealed the U.S. government's "horrifying" surveillance capability (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/edward-snowden-source-stunning-nsa-leaks-reveals/story?id=19359212).

Snowden has not been seen since he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel room earlier this week, but today an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, the South China Morning Post (http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1259335/exclusive-whistleblower-edward-snowden-talks-south-china-morning-post), published a preview of a new interview the paper said they conducted with Snowden. In the preview, Snowden addresses the raging debate over whether he is a hero or a traitor (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/in-their-own-words-alleged-nsa-leaker-a-hero-or-a-traitor/) for his actions. He said the answer is neither, but rather, "I'm an American." Snowden told the Hong Kong newspaper he has no plans to leave.
"People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions," he said. "I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality… My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."
READ: U.S. Prepares Charges Against Alleged NSA Leaker, Sources Say (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-prepares-charges-alleged-nsa-leaker-sources/story?id=19371445#.UbiEIOftWSo)

[PSYOP]

I can't believe this man is still alive.

[HOLLYWOOD]

I can't believe this man is still alive.The reason he is alive... he has more dirt on the illegal operations across the globe... if he "Disappears" I'm sure the data released will reveal the most evil of operations/policies and indict quite a few people.

His life insurance is information he holds against his former masters.

[enhanced_deficit]

Was this done with or without Obama pupms blessing?

[Carson]

If we don't regain control of our government others may have no choice.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Was this done with or without Obama pupms blessing?
You know Barry VERBALLY said, go after every bodies accounts overseas...In the past 5 years the Obama administration has shook down many nations to submit to the CIA/NSA/War nation, or they'll disappear too. You can review all the force financial disclosure treaties the State Dept. /IRS/whatever elese agency inflected on nations.


If we don't regain control of our government others may have no choice.Government Fascist -Corporate Media is doing their best to fool the public dilute them with trash distraction tabloid news, and silly statist disparaging coverage.

We shall see...

[Anti Federalist]

If we don't regain control of our government others may have no choice.

Gonna preempt us.

[Elias Graves]

If we don't fix it, other nations may decide to fix it for us. I don't want to see that happen.

[oyarde]

Reason article...

I think REASON has it wrong... It's Economic SABOTAGE against Swiss Banking system and their Swiss members/citizens. Espionage is intelligence gathering, but what Showden describes is the CIA were/are doing in Switzerland, is outright Sabotage to their countries assets/system/citizens.


http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/10/switzerland-furious-about-snowdens-charg

I figured everyone knew about this .