CNN is out with a report today that claims that president Obama did not know that the NSA was eavesdropping on foreign leaders. In truth, I don't know which is worse: 1) that Obama let surveillance of the leaders of close allies continue, or 2) that Obama did not know that such surveillance was ongoing.
Remember, we are talking about surveillance of leaders of countries that are among America's closest friends. Someone authorized the NSA to tap the phones of the German, British, French, Israeli and Japanese leaders. Although it has not yet been raised, that probably means that the leaders of Canada and Mexico were also the subject of surveillance. Who gave the go ahead for that program? Can it be that the NSA was able on its own to do this? I doubt it. There must have been some sort of approval from the White House or, at least, the State Department before this move would have been taken. The truth is that this seems like the standard Obama response to all bad news. How many times have we heard from Obama that he just did not know what was going on? Obama did not know about surveillance of foreign leaders? Obama did not know about the IRS targeting of conservative groups and individuals? Obama did not know about security problems in Benghazi? Obama did not know about the Justice Department targeting news organizations like the AP and Fox News? "Obama did not know" should be the chorus of the official Obama theme song.
Could it be conceivable that Obama really did not know about the surveillance? That would require a level of indifference to national security which would be shocking in and of itself. Keep in mind that this surveillance was not a minor effort. There were a great many world leaders who were the subject of the effort. During his five years in office, Obama surely saw a report about something happening in Germany, the UK, France, or some other ally that was described in his daily intelligence briefing. Every morning the president gets a report from the intelligence agencies that describes the events of the previous 24 hours and any ongoing items of importance. Surely, in his time in office, those intelligence reports included tidbits gleaned from the eavesdropping on foreign leaders. Without a doubt, Obama should have asked how the information was obtained in order to determine how much weight to put on it. If Obama were doing his job, he had to know that these programs were underway. The current claim that he just did not know is the equivalent to Obama announcing that he really never cared for foreign affairs and decided years ago to ignore it.
Remember, we are talking about surveillance of leaders of countries that are among America's closest friends. Someone authorized the NSA to tap the phones of the German, British, French, Israeli and Japanese leaders. Although it has not yet been raised, that probably means that the leaders of Canada and Mexico were also the subject of surveillance. Who gave the go ahead for that program? Can it be that the NSA was able on its own to do this? I doubt it. There must have been some sort of approval from the White House or, at least, the State Department before this move would have been taken. The truth is that this seems like the standard Obama response to all bad news. How many times have we heard from Obama that he just did not know what was going on? Obama did not know about surveillance of foreign leaders? Obama did not know about the IRS targeting of conservative groups and individuals? Obama did not know about security problems in Benghazi? Obama did not know about the Justice Department targeting news organizations like the AP and Fox News? "Obama did not know" should be the chorus of the official Obama theme song.
Could it be conceivable that Obama really did not know about the surveillance? That would require a level of indifference to national security which would be shocking in and of itself. Keep in mind that this surveillance was not a minor effort. There were a great many world leaders who were the subject of the effort. During his five years in office, Obama surely saw a report about something happening in Germany, the UK, France, or some other ally that was described in his daily intelligence briefing. Every morning the president gets a report from the intelligence agencies that describes the events of the previous 24 hours and any ongoing items of importance. Surely, in his time in office, those intelligence reports included tidbits gleaned from the eavesdropping on foreign leaders. Without a doubt, Obama should have asked how the information was obtained in order to determine how much weight to put on it. If Obama were doing his job, he had to know that these programs were underway. The current claim that he just did not know is the equivalent to Obama announcing that he really never cared for foreign affairs and decided years ago to ignore it.
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