The NSA did not record 70 million French telephone calls, but it does carry out espionage in France, Intelligence Director James Clapper has said. Responding to media reports on NSA activities in France, he dismissed them as “false and misleading.”
The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) stopped short of
denying the US carried out espionage in France, but claimed the
contents of a report by Le Monde were “false.”
The French newspaper released an article on Monday describing the
espionage activities of the NSA on the French people. Citing
classified data leaked to the paper by former CIA employee Edward
Snowden, Le Monde wrote the US recorded 70.3 million phone calls
between December 10, 2012, and January 8, 2013.
"Recent articles published in the French newspaper Le Monde
contain inaccurate and misleading information regarding US
foreign intelligence activities," Clapper said in a statement
released on Tuesday.
Specifically addressing the claims that the NSA had tapped French
citizens’ phone calls, Clapper stated, “The allegation that
the NSA collected more than 70 million 'recordings of French
citizens' telephone data' is false.”
However, the intelligence chief did consent that “the United
States gathers intelligence of the type gathered by all nations.”
Le Monde claimed it has reason to believe that the US was not
only gathering data on citizens suspected to be involved in
terrorist activities, but also high-profile politicians and
businessmen.
The allegations of espionage provoked a volley of furious
rhetoric from the French government who characterized the NSA’s
activities as “unacceptable and shocking.” Furthermore,
the French Foreign Minister summoned US Ambassador Charles Rivkin
to personally account for the spy scandal.
‘One of our oldest allies’
Since the reports emerged, Washington has sought to placate the
French government’s anger and downplay the NSA’s activities.
Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in France on Monday morning
and was greeted by a political firestorm.
In a public address, responding to the spy scandal, Kerry stated
that France was “one of the US’ oldest allies.”
Reiterating the argument put forward by Washington that espionage
can be justified in the interests of protecting national
security, Kerry set Washington strikes a balance between privacy
and defending against terrorism.
“Our goal is always to try to find the right balance between
protecting the security and the privacy of our citizens,” he
said.
The US has faced massive criticism for its spy activities in
Europe. On Tuesday Italy became the latest country revealed to be
on the intelligence organization’s European watch list. Italy’s
Corriere della Sera published an article saying that Italy’s spy
watchdog COPASIR had recently learned of large-scale monitoring
of Italians, including politicians.