It was previously revealed that the NSA may have gathered intelligence on the phone numbers of 35 world leaders in 2006, but a new report says that it actually began in 2002.
As you’re probably aware, President Obama was just a state senator in 2002.
(Reuters) – The United States may have bugged Angela Merkel’s phone for more than 10 years, according to a news report on Saturday that also said President Barack Obama told the German leader he would have stopped it happening had he known about it. [...]
Der Spiegel said Merkel’s mobile telephone had been listed by the NSA’s Special Collection Service (SCS) since 2002 – marked as “GE Chancellor Merkel” – and was still on the list weeks before Obama visited Berlin in June.
The Wall Street Journal, famous Obama-loyalist bastion that it is, reported yesterday that President Obama was not aware of the program. Not that he should have been given that the program began not long after 9/11.
According to the paper, the White House first learned of the operations during an internal administration review over the summer. After their revelation, the White House ordered the NSA to halt some monitoring programs, including the one tracking Merkel. Other surveillance efforts are still winding down.
The president was unaware of the program, and when it was revealed to him this summer he halted the program.
Are we done here?