Former CIA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden has warned that Democrat Joe Biden is “deeply involved” in a National Security Agency (NSA) operation to illegally spy on European leaders.
According to Snowden, who now lives in exile in Russia after fleeing the United States, says Biden has been working with intelligence officials in Denmark to spy on foreign leaders part of an NSA program.
The most notable targets of the alleged operation are German leaders Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank Walter-Steinmeier.
Snowden claims Merkel and Walter-Steinmeier are among several high-profile officials who were illegally spied on by the NSA.
The NSA reportedly acted with the cooperation and help of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE), according to a European media investigation.
The spying allegations first came to light in 2013, thanks to NSA documents leaked by Snowden.
Snowden’s leaks specifically revealed Merkel’s private cell phone had been monitored by the Obama administration.
The new revelations come as a result of multiple European news outlets – including Danish state broadcaster DR, German NDR, Swedish SVT, Norwegian NRK, and French Le Monde among others – obtaining access to internal reports and information from Danish Secret Service sources.
According to the investigation, politicians in Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, France, and even Danish finance industries were also targeted by the NSA with the help of Danish spies.
The Danish government has reportedly known about the cooperation for years and forced FE leadership to step down in 2020 after discovering the full extent of the relationship following an internal investigation.
They did not, however, report the findings to any European Union allies.
The spying was primarily done through hijacking Danish electronic communications systems as the country has landing stations for subsea internet cables between numerous countries, such as Germany and Sweden.
By using politicians’ and officials’ phone numbers, authorities were able to pull texts and phone calls, while those being spied on were none the wiser.
