The last time a trove of leaked documents exposed US spying operations around the world, the reaction from allied governments was swift and severe.
In Berlin, thousands of people protested in the streets, the CIA station chief was expelled, and the German chancellor told the American president that “spying on friends is not acceptable. ” In Paris, the US ambassador was summoned for a dressing-down. That was a decade ago, after an enormous leak of classified documents detailing American surveillance programs by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The latest leak of classified documents has again illustrated the broad reach of US spy agencies, including into the capitals of friendly countriessuch as Egypt, South Korea, Ukraine and the UAE. Though the documents mainly focus on the war in Ukraine, but in several cases attributed to “signals intelligence,” or electronic eavesdropping.
The US adversaries have sought to exploit the awkward moment. It was only months ago that US officials were condemning Beijing for its prying eyes, in the form of spy balloons drifting over multiple continents. On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman turned the tables, insisting that the US owed the international community an explanation for its “indiscriminate secret theft, surveillance and eavesdropping on countries in the world, including its allies.”
Unlike in 2013, however, US allies appear to be mostly shrugging off the latest examples of apparent spying. The governments of Egypt, Israel, South Korea, and the UAE called leaked reports about their deliberations false or fabricated but said little or nothing about the surveillance itself.
The subdued response may be the product of a jaded view about the long reach of US spy agencies. The end of the Cold War may have brought a golden era of espionage to a close, but the documents that Snowden leaked in 2013 revealed that anew age of spying had begun. It became clear that the US, driven by fears of foreign terrorism and empowered by technological advances, had created a sophisticated network of global surveillance that was scooping up vast amounts of data from millions of emails and phone calls around the world.
So far, the only evident political fallout from the latest leaks has occurred in South Korea, where one classified US document described a debate among national security officials about whether to send artillery shells abroad that might wind up in Ukraine, potentially angering Russia. Opposition leaders in South Korea have denounced the US for breaching trust with an ally and “violating the sovereignty” of the country.
In Berlin, thousands of people protested in the streets, the CIA station chief was expelled, and the German chancellor told the American president that “spying on friends is not acceptable. ” In Paris, the US ambassador was summoned for a dressing-down. That was a decade ago, after an enormous leak of classified documents detailing American surveillance programs by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The latest leak of classified documents has again illustrated the broad reach of US spy agencies, including into the capitals of friendly countriessuch as Egypt, South Korea, Ukraine and the UAE. Though the documents mainly focus on the war in Ukraine, but in several cases attributed to “signals intelligence,” or electronic eavesdropping.
The US adversaries have sought to exploit the awkward moment. It was only months ago that US officials were condemning Beijing for its prying eyes, in the form of spy balloons drifting over multiple continents. On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman turned the tables, insisting that the US owed the international community an explanation for its “indiscriminate secret theft, surveillance and eavesdropping on countries in the world, including its allies.”
Unlike in 2013, however, US allies appear to be mostly shrugging off the latest examples of apparent spying. The governments of Egypt, Israel, South Korea, and the UAE called leaked reports about their deliberations false or fabricated but said little or nothing about the surveillance itself.
The subdued response may be the product of a jaded view about the long reach of US spy agencies. The end of the Cold War may have brought a golden era of espionage to a close, but the documents that Snowden leaked in 2013 revealed that anew age of spying had begun. It became clear that the US, driven by fears of foreign terrorism and empowered by technological advances, had created a sophisticated network of global surveillance that was scooping up vast amounts of data from millions of emails and phone calls around the world.
So far, the only evident political fallout from the latest leaks has occurred in South Korea, where one classified US document described a debate among national security officials about whether to send artillery shells abroad that might wind up in Ukraine, potentially angering Russia. Opposition leaders in South Korea have denounced the US for breaching trust with an ally and “violating the sovereignty” of the country.