Obama Aware of Merkel Spying Since 2010

[randomname]

Gotta love how for all these leaks the playbook is: Leak -> Wait for the administration to lie about it -> Lie is refuted

:D

"Yesterday the German newspaper of record, Frankfurter Allgemeine, reported that the President told German Chancellor Merkel that he would have stopped the tap on her phone had he known about it. Today, another German paper, Bild am Sonntag, quoted U. S. Intelligence sources that the President had been briefed in 2010. 'Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue,' the newspaper quoted a high-ranking NSA official as saying."

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-aware-merkel-spying-since-2010-german-report-092009842.html

[Kords21]

I thought this report in the news wouldbe the first he's hearing of it, like everything else he hears about. The amount of info that this buffoon claims to not know about is shocking and worrying. The truest and most obvious puppet of them all.

[thoughtomator]

Obama is seriously pathological. He knows he's going to get caught and he lies anyway. Every sane person should fear such a madman with the amount of power he has in his hands.

[HOLLYWOOD]

LOL! Told y'all... Washington DC is full of nothing but Sociopath and Psychopathic scumbags lying 24/7.
"Obama did not halt the operation but rather let it continue," the newspaper quoted a high-ranking NSA official as saying. News weekly Der Spiegel reported that leaked NSA documents showed Merkel's phone had appeared on a list of spying targets for over a decade, and was still under surveillance weeks before Obama visited Berlin in June.

TRUTH is TREASON in an EMPIRE OF LIES

[AngryCanadian]

lol what a quick change of headlines.

NSA denies Obama knew of Merkel spying

[jkob]

lol everyone will fall on the sword before Emperor Obama is implicated

[angelatc]

He's such an arrogant POS. Everything that goes right. he micromanged and was personally responsible for. But everything that goes wrong? He didn't know about it. Because if he was involved, obviously it would have gone right.

He killed Bin Laden, but slept through Benghazi.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Again, The Liar & Chief Obama caught red-handed...
White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say

NSA and other U.S. intelligence agency staff members are said to be angry at President Obama for denying knowledge of the spying.

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-spying-phones-20131029,0,3235295.story


Allegations of U.S. spying on European leaders have placed President Obama at odds with some intelligence officials.

By Ken Dilanian and Janet Stobart October 28, 2013, 7:25 p.m.


WASHINGTON -- The White House (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/executive-branch/white-house-PLCUL000110.topic) and State Department (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/u.s.-department-of-state-ORGOV000000150.topic) signed off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/barack-obama-PEPLT007408.topic) and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

Professional staff members at the National Security Agency (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/defense/security-measures/national-security-agency-ORGOV0000104.topic) and other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden (http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/crime/edward-snowden-PEOCVC000306.topic) that have strained ties with close allies.
The resistance emerged as the White House said it would curtail foreign intelligence collection in some cases and two senior U.S. senators called for investigations of the practice.
France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden have all publicly complained about the NSA surveillance operations, which reportedly captured private cellphone conversations by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/angela-merkel-PEPLT007499.topic), among other foreign leaders.
FOR THE RECORD:
U.S. spying: An article in the Oct. 29 front section about U.S. spying on foreign leaders misidentified Sen. John McCain as the ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He is a member of the committee, but no longer the ranking member.
On Monday, as Spain joined the protest, the fallout also spread to Capitol Hill.
PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-best-political-photos-2013-20130314,0,4157453.photogallery)
Until now, members of Congress (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/u.s.-congress-ORGOV0000131.topic) have chiefly focused their attention on Snowden's disclosures about the NSA's collection of U.S. telephone and email records under secret court orders.
"With respect to NSA collection of intelligence on leaders of U.S. allies — including France, Spain, Mexico and Germany — let me state unequivocally: I am totally opposed," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/dianne-feinstein-PEPLT002021.topic) (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/espionage-intelligence/u.s.-senate-select-committee-on-intelligence-ORGOV000350.topic).
"Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers," she said in a statement.
Feinstein said the Intelligence Committee had not been told of "certain surveillance activities" for more than a decade, and she said she would initiate a major review of the NSA operation. She added that the White House had informed her that "collection on our allies will not continue," although other officials said most U.S. surveillance overseas would not be affected.
Sen. John McCain (http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/john-mccain-PEPLT004278.topic) (R-Ariz.), ranking minority member of the Armed Services Committee, said Congress should consider creating a special select committee to examine U.S. eavesdropping on foreign leaders.
"Obviously, we're going to want to know exactly what the president knew and when he knew it," McCain told reporters in Chicago. "We have always eavesdropped on people around the world. But the advance of technology has given us enormous capabilities, and I think you might make an argument that some of this capability has been very offensive both to us and to our allies."
In Madrid, Spanish Foreign Ministry officials summoned the U.S. ambassador to object to the alleged NSA communications net in Spain. Citing documents leaked by Snowden, El Mundo, a major Spanish daily, said the U.S. spy agency had collected data on more than 60 million phone calls made in just 30 days, from early December 2012 to early January 2013.
PHOTOS: President Obama's past (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-barack-obama-past-photos-20121009,0,6092650.photogallery)
Precisely how the surveillance is conducted is unclear. But if a foreign leader is targeted for eavesdropping, the relevant U.S. ambassador and the National Security Council staffer at the White House who deals with the country are given regular reports, said two former senior intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing classified information.
Obama may not have been specifically briefed on NSA operations targeting a foreign leader's cellphone or email communications, one of the officials said. "But certainly the National Security Council and senior people across the intelligence community knew exactly what was going on, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous."
If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books.