Taking Responsibility for U.S. Espionage

After Edward Snowden released secret NSA documents revealing the extent to which the United States has spied on its citizens and allies, the NSA has been the subject of much outrage at home and abroad. Indignant leaders of foreign governments have chastised the U.S. for invading their sovereignty, and Senator Dianne Feinstein expressed the view of many Americans that it is wrong to spy on friendly leaders. Representative Mike Rogers, however, defended the NSA’s actions, calling the European criticism “disingenuous,” as they too engaged in similar espionage and the resulting information benefitted everyone. Regardless of how we feel about the proper reach of American counterterrorism, the real travesty is that a president of the United States could claim ignorance about the surveillance activities of U.S. intelligence agencies.

Germany is one of many friendly countries, including France, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico that have been targeted by American spy operations. Although the Snowden papers indicate that the NSA had been wiretapping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cell phone since 2002, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag claims President Obama had been aware of the wiretapping only since 2010.

Bild am Sonntag reported that once Obama learned about the NSA’s surveillance of Merkel, he in fact requested that it redouble its efforts. We cannot be certain if or when Obama learned about the NSA’s foreign surveillance operations or whether he approved them. Yet it is unacceptable for him to shrug off responsibility for America’s actions. That a president could be unaware that the nation is spying on its allies is a clear indication that we need to enforce measures to increase the NSA’s accountability.

It is one thing to hide the NSA’s mass surveillance program from the American public, but it is quite another to claim not to have known about it. Obama’s hedging leaves the impression that the president is unable to reign in the overreaching powers of the NSA.

It is essential that the intelligence community’s  activities be overseen by the president and Congress, especially when those activities threaten the liberty of Americans and allies. To this end, we put out full support behind the bipartisan efforts of the House and Senate to demand more accountability from both our elected officials and our espionage agencies by insisting on greater communication and transparency.