French-American relations are at a critical juncture, as on Monday WikiLeaks αποκάλυψε νέα έγγραφα που αποδεικνύουν ότι η NSA έχει στην συλλογή της data of an economic nature and that it has been monitoring for over a decade.
“The United States has been conducting economic espionage against France for more than a decade. Not only have they spied on the French Finance Minister, but they are also monitoring every contract or deal with French companies, ”said Julian Assange.
“Hundreds of such contracts are signed each year. The United States is not the only one using the results of this espionage, but they are sharing data with the United Kingdom. French citizens have the right to know that their country is being monitored by alleged allies. ”
According to the document The 2002 "Information Need" leaked, the NSA had been tasked with collecting financial data from the French government, as well as details of business contracts, information on the state's macroeconomic policy, relationships with international lenders, and "questionable commercial activities."
The memo PDF is very clear. It clarifies that all financial transactions or any financing worth more than 200 million should be explored, with particular emphasis on activities related to the IT and telecommunications industries, oil and gas industries, environmental technologies, health care and biotechnology.
This information was not only for US use, but was shared with the other four states of the Five Eyes alliance: the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The new revelations have naturally embarrassed the US government, since it has long alleged that the NSA exists to spy on terrorists, organized crime, and drug dealers. But once again it turns out that the service was especially tasked with examining the economic interests of even the allies of the United States.
President Obama last week once telephoned Francois Hollande to apologize when Wikileaks announced that the NSA was monitoring three "generations" of French presidents.
These notifications led to an extraordinary meeting of the French cabinet. Monday's revelations will make things even worse and it is likely that other documents will leak in the next few weeks
