Obama Advisor John Podesta: 'Every Country Has a History of Going Over the Line'

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/interview-with-obama-advisor-john-podesta-on-nsa-and-cyber-security-a-978297.html



Instead of a no-spy deal, the US has begun a Cyber Dialogue with Germany. In a SPIEGEL interview, John Podesta, a special advisor to President Barack Obama, speaks of the balance between alliances and security and says that changes are being made to NSA espionage practices.

Obama Advisor John Podesta: 'Every Country Has a History of Going Over the Line'
Interview Conducted by Susanne Koelbl and Marcel Rosenbach
June 30, 2014 – 02:30 PM

SPIEGEL: Mr.Podesta, the US government has thus far neither provided answers to questions sent by the German government nor has the promised no-spy deal been forthcoming. What message have you brought with you to Berlin?

Podesta: We don't have no-spy agreements with any country. I think there was a misunderstanding about this at the beginning of what was being contemplated. What the US side did do with the German side was to try to increase our cooperation and understanding in the world of surveillance. The president has talked to the chancellor numerous times about this topic.

SPIEGEL: That's great for Chancellor Angela Merkel. But she is the only German who has been guaranteed that her mobile phone is no longer being monitored. Wouldn't such a guarantee for the rest of the population be necessary as a foundation for the Cyber Dialogue?

Podesta: As you know, the president did a review and he authorized a special group of people to take a look at the surveillance practices on the intelligence side as a result of the Snowden disclosures. That started last summer and was completed in December. That was in advance of the president's January speech, in which he made substantial reforms to those intelligence programs.

[bemildred]

1. No, Mr. Podesta, they don't all do it.

Only the ones that get arrogant and over-reaching do it. There are lots of countries that don't do anything of the sort.