Report: NSA Spied On German Chancellor Before She Even Took Office

Report: NSA Spied On German Chancellor Before She Even Took Office

Well this puts a new wrinkle on things — according to a new report from Der Spiegel, the NSA has been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone since 2002. That’s long before she became chancellor, though it’s unclear how deep the snooping went.

According to the report, secret NSA documents show Chancellor Merkel’s phone number on a list dating back to 2002. Her number was still listed at the time she met with President Obama in Germany earlier this year. This news comes the same day that German security officials arrived on Capitol Hill to discuss the ongoing allegations of Merkel’s phone being tapped.

It’s still unknown whether conversations were recorded, or if the spying simply involved data such as contact lists — or, for that matter, how many other world leaders are on the NSA’s radar. [Der Spiegel via BBC]

Image by Bundesregierung under Creative Commons licence


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